The Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse in Downtown Fresno. File photo

A Hanford man pleaded guilty Monday to submitting more than $1 million in fraudulent claims for sleep studies to Medicare.

Travis Gober, 44, owned the VIP Sleep Center, a sleep disorder clinic that operated out of Fresno and Visalia, according to court records. Sleep disorder clinics perform diagnostic tests to identify ailments including sleep apnea and narcolepsy.

From October 2019 to September 2021, Gober caused VIP Sleep Center to submit thousands of claims to Medicare for sleep studies that were never performed on patients. The claims also falsely stated that the patients had been referred for the sleep studies by physicians with whom Gober had previously worked. This was done because Medicare will not pay for a sleep study unless the patient was referred by a physician.

Gober was indicted in 2021.

Gober committed this fraud, at least in part, to try to pay debts and address other financial difficulties that his brother, Jeremy Gober, had caused the VIP Sleep Center and him to incur without his knowledge or consent, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.

Travis Gober is scheduled to be sentenced by Jennifer L. Thurston on Jan. 16, 2024. Gober faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for the health care fraud conviction, and an additional, mandatory two years in prison for the identity theft conviction.

Jeremy Gober was charged in December 2022 with health care fraud and identity theft totaling $8 million related to other sleep clinics in the Central Valley.