Former Jacksonville chiropractor gets federal prison for health care fraud

A former Jacksonville chiropractor who once worked in Morgan County is headed to federal prison after investigators said he turned a medical office into a source of fraudulent insurance billing, filing more than 2,000 false claims and taking in more than a quarter-million dollars from health insurers.

Sean Rondeau, 56, was sentenced June 10, 2026, in U.S. District Court to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Federal prosecutors said he was also ordered to pay more than $268,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in December 2025 to all nine counts in the case.

The charges against Rondeau included one count of health care fraud, three counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in August 2024, and prosecutors said the case centered on a long-running pattern rather than a one-time billing error. The government told the court that more than 2,000 separate fraudulent claims were submitted and that each one was an intentional act by Rondeau that required his direct action.

Judge Colleen R. Lawless said Rondeau had been caught committing fraud more than a decade earlier, and prosecutors said he kept submitting false claims even after he knew he was under investigation in the current case. Federal authorities also said he tried to cover up the fraud by persuading clients to sign false documents after the investigation began, a move that tied patients directly to the scheme and deepened the breach of trust inside a local health care setting.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Springfield Field Office investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer prosecuted it. The Justice Department said the statutory maximum penalties were 10 years for health care fraud and 20 years each for mail fraud and wire fraud, along with supervised release and fines.

For Jacksonville and the surrounding area, the case is a reminder that health care fraud does not stay confined to billing ledgers. It can leave insurers paying inflated claims, put patients in the middle of deceptive paperwork and damage confidence in local medical professionals who depend on trust as much as training. The Justice Department said its 2025 national health care fraud takedown charged 324 defendants and alleged more than $14.6 billion in fraud, underscoring how aggressively federal authorities are pursuing these cases.