Local activist accused of organizing multi-million dollar Medicaid fraud scheme

CHARLOTTE, N.C – A local activist is accused of organizing a nine million dollar healthcare fraud scheme. Federal authorities raided properties owned by Cedric Dean in Mecklenburg and Cleveland counties.

Dean is known as a local re-entry activist who served time in prison on drugs and robbery charges.

The feds say Cedric Dean used his company Cedric Dean Holdings to fraudulently steal nearly $9 million dollars in funds from Medicaid that he used to buy vehicles and houses on Youngblood Road and McChesney Drive.

“I really thought, you know, it was a homeowner, you know, looking for a nice house, and they was just just ready to settle in,” a neighbor on Youngblood Road said.

He allegedly had 100 people living in his properties in December of 2024. Neighbors on McChesney say they noticed a lot of activity.

“The moving trucks were coming and going and bringing things and leaving, then we just kind of kept our eye on the house. So no, it wasn’t surprising,” a neighbor on McChesney Drive said.

Dean is accused of offering homeless people food and housing at one of his properties if they gave him their Medicaid ID number. Court documents say he billed Medicaid for services clients never received and “paid a doctor to diagnose homeless people with anything.”

Dean recently ran a shelter called Help out of the Baymont Inn in Northeast Charlotte. It was shut down after reports of drugs and violence. A woman and her baby were also found dead in the hotel.

Dean is regularly seen with Charlotte City Councilwoman Tiawana Brown who is also under federal indictment for fraud. On one of his multiple business websites, WCCB found Brown listed on a roster for Cedric Dean Holdings staff.

Court documents say Dean billed Medicaid for a total of $14 million dollars and used the Medicaid money to buy cars, jewelry and properties in Charlotte and Shelby. The Feds say they compared Dean’s Medicaid billing to other providers and his amounts were 894% higher than the provider that submitted the second highest claims amount. The investigation also revealed that Dean’s company submitted more than 50 claims for Supported living services for a client after their death totaling more than $11,000 billed. The investigators say they interviewed at least eight employees and clients of Dean’s company who witnessed fraudulent activity.

“We always gave him the benefit of the doubt when he moved in, thinking that he was helping people. And I’m not going to be the first one to say that he wasn’t until it’s proven,” a neighbor on McChesney Drive said.

Feds say Dean paid himself $360,000 in the first six months of 2025. They claim he has no substantial income outside of the alleged scheme.

Right now, the feds have a civil complaint against Dean. The feds are asking a judge to force Dean to surrender properties and vehicles that they say he used fraud money to buy. Criminal charges often follow civil complaints, but that hasn’t happened at this time.