South St. Paul boys basketball coach pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud

Jan. 20—Former South St. Paul boys basketball coach Matthew McCollister pleaded guilty Wednesday to his role in a scheme to rip off car insurance companies with bogus medical claims while working as a personal injury attorney.

McCollister, 40, of Mendota Heights, appeared in federal court in St. Paul on one count of felony conspiracy to commit health care fraud in 2016 and 2017. Under his plea agreement, McCollister faces a likely prison sentence of between 10 and 16 months, but the decision will be up to U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright, who did not set a sentencing date.

McCollister remains free on his own recognizance pending his sentencing.

Federal prosecutors on Dec. 8 charged McCollister by felony information, a process by which a defendant agrees to waive a grand jury indictment and instead plead guilty.

Last week, McCollister resigned from his job as head coach of South St. Paul High School's boys basketball team. He'd been coach since November 2019. McCollister is credited with helping to turn around a once-struggling team, which fell a game short of the state tournament last year and this season is undefeated and among the top-ranked teams in Class 3A.

Starting around 2015, McCollister had his own law practice that focused primarily on pursuing personal injury claims on behalf of people who had been in car accidents. But he's been suspended from practicing law since October 2020, when a state agency that polices the behavior of Minnesota lawyers found a dozen instances of misconduct.

Last month, the agency recommended McCollister be disbarred for professional misconduct in 2019 and 2020, including that he misappropriated client funds. A petition for the disciplinary action will be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

HOW IT WORKED

According to the plea agreement, which was made public Wednesday:

In March 2016, a chiropractor introduced McCollister to a confidential informant who was working with the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau and posing as a "runner." A runner is someone who gets paid to recruit people who supposedly were injured in car crashes and then receive chiropractic treatment paid for by auto insurance companies.

McCollister met with the runner at a St. Paul restaurant, where McCollister asked the runner — and the runner agreed — to find people who supposedly were injured. McCollister's idea was to then have them go to chiropractors for care and that he would represent them to bring claims against auto insurance companies for the purported injuries. McCollister offered to pay the runner $300 or more for each person who was recruited.

McCollister twice paid the runner $400.

In late 2017, McCollister then sent two letters to Liberty Mutual Insurance on behalf of the two people who received chiropractic care, demanding a $25,000 bodily injury settlement for each.

It is a state, not federal, crime for an attorney to work with runners. What got McCollister prosecuted in U.S. District Court was demanding from the insurance company payment for chiropractic care that he knew was unnecessary.

ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY

On Wednesday, in an interview following the court hearing, Ryan Pacyga, McCollister's attorney, said McCollister's guilty plea is the "next step in the process of him accepting responsibility."

"Right now, obviously, Matt is aware of the harm that he caused by the conduct," he said. "He's also thinking of the South St. Paul basketball team and their family and that community."

After McCollister resigned from the team and school last Wednesday, South St. Paul assistant coach Darren Edwards took over as head coach of the Packers. With a 79-62 win over Tartan Tuesday night, the team has a 14-0 record.

Prior to joining South St. Paul, McCollister also had been a head coach at Breck, St. Croix Preparatory Academy and Brooklyn Center.

McCollister also had worked at South St. Paul High School as a full-time student support assistant. In that role, he worked with student-support specialists who focus on student behavior.