FBI Raids Homes of Charlotte Community Activist Who Allegedly Exploited Homeless in $14.5 Million Medicaid Fraud Scheme
The FBI on Thursday raided the home of Cedric Dean, a notorious community activist in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Federal investigators accuse Dean of exploiting homeless people to defraud Medicaid out of millions of dollars. According to federal court documents, Dean used the money to buy homes, cars and more to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. The Feds said they were moving to seize those assets.
On his company website, Dean bills himself as a “nationally recognized behavioral health expert.”
According to the civil forfeiture complaint filed by the FBI, Dean allegedly obtained Medicaid information from vulnerable people at homeless shelters, encampments, and halfway houses in North Carolina, in exchange for food or temporary shelter.
Dean then allegedly billed Medicaid for mental health services that were never provided, sometimes using fake diagnoses. He allegedly paid his staff through services like CashApp.
Authorities said his company, Cedric Dean Holdings (CDH), billed Medicaid approximately $14.5 million between September 2024 and June 2025, with nearly $9 million reimbursed, while not operating with enough staff to adequately provide services.
The Feds have seized his bank accounts, vehicles, including two RVs and luxury SUVs, and multiple properties in Charlotte and Shelby, that were allegedly purchased with fraud earnings.
Neighbors who live near one of Dean’s properties in Charlotte, told the media they were concerned about the suspicious nonstop activity at the address.
“There were always so many cars in the driveway,” said one neighbor.
“We just are here to make sure that it’s safe and that we’re comfortable living here and all that. And when all those people were coming and going and the moving trucks were coming and going and bringing things and leaving, then we just kind of kept our eye on the house,” said another neighbor.
“It was a little surprising to see the FBI and a lot of assault weapons. But, you know, other than that, that was the biggest surprise,” another neighbor said.
“We always gave him the benefit of the doubt when he moved in, thinking that he was helping people,” a neighbor said.
Dean has a criminal record dates back to the 1980s, including charges of assault, armed robbery, and kidnapping, according to police.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the mid 1990s on federal drug charges.
While in prison, he started an anti-violence foundation, SAVE (Safeguard Atone Validate Educate), to steer children away from gangs. In November 2017, he was released from prison after serving nearly 24 years behind bars.
Dean is also the founder and CEO of the HELP (Heal, Empower, Love, Protect), a substance abuse program that houses people at a north Charlotte hotel.
He was arrested May 20 of this year after he forced himself into a tenant’s room and tried to remove her, the Charlotte Observer reported.
According to the affidavit, the woman “stated that when she opened the door, she advised Dean to leave her alone.” When she “attempted to shut the door, Dean forced himself into the residence and began a verbal altercation.”
He was released under a $2,500 unsecured bond.
Later that week, Dean sat next to “City Councilwoman Tiawana Brown at a press conference where she addressed reporters’ questions about federal charges against her of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud used to falsely obtain pandemic relief loans,” the Observer reported.
Brown was indicted on May 22 on federal charges for an alleged scheme to steal $124,000 in COVID pandemic relief funds.
She reportedly threw herself a $15,000 birthday party with a rented throne and horse-drawn carriage with some of the stolen funds.
The Trump administration has targeted the exploitation of government health care programs by criminal hucksters and left-wing extremists as part of its effort to crack down on government waste, fraud and abuse.
The Department of Justice announced in June that its “National Health Care Fraud Takedown” had resulted in 324 defendants charged in connection with over $14.6 billion in alleged fraud.
The Capital Research Center (CRC), a conservative watchdog based in Washington D.C., recently released a report exposing how left-wing organizations have hijacked the homelessness policy space to advance their radical ideologies. CTC’s 113-page research dossier landed on President Trump’s desk last week during the White House’s Antifa roundtable.
Federal investigators accuse Dean of exploiting homeless people to defraud Medicaid out of millions of dollars. According to federal court documents, Dean used the money to buy homes, cars and more to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. The Feds said they were moving to seize those assets.
On his company website, Dean bills himself as a “nationally recognized behavioral health expert.”
According to the civil forfeiture complaint filed by the FBI, Dean allegedly obtained Medicaid information from vulnerable people at homeless shelters, encampments, and halfway houses in North Carolina, in exchange for food or temporary shelter.
Dean then allegedly billed Medicaid for mental health services that were never provided, sometimes using fake diagnoses. He allegedly paid his staff through services like CashApp.
Authorities said his company, Cedric Dean Holdings (CDH), billed Medicaid approximately $14.5 million between September 2024 and June 2025, with nearly $9 million reimbursed, while not operating with enough staff to adequately provide services.
The Feds have seized his bank accounts, vehicles, including two RVs and luxury SUVs, and multiple properties in Charlotte and Shelby, that were allegedly purchased with fraud earnings.
Neighbors who live near one of Dean’s properties in Charlotte, told the media they were concerned about the suspicious nonstop activity at the address.
“There were always so many cars in the driveway,” said one neighbor.
“We just are here to make sure that it’s safe and that we’re comfortable living here and all that. And when all those people were coming and going and the moving trucks were coming and going and bringing things and leaving, then we just kind of kept our eye on the house,” said another neighbor.
“It was a little surprising to see the FBI and a lot of assault weapons. But, you know, other than that, that was the biggest surprise,” another neighbor said.
“We always gave him the benefit of the doubt when he moved in, thinking that he was helping people,” a neighbor said.
Dean has a criminal record dates back to the 1980s, including charges of assault, armed robbery, and kidnapping, according to police.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the mid 1990s on federal drug charges.
While in prison, he started an anti-violence foundation, SAVE (Safeguard Atone Validate Educate), to steer children away from gangs. In November 2017, he was released from prison after serving nearly 24 years behind bars.
Dean is also the founder and CEO of the HELP (Heal, Empower, Love, Protect), a substance abuse program that houses people at a north Charlotte hotel.
He was arrested May 20 of this year after he forced himself into a tenant’s room and tried to remove her, the Charlotte Observer reported.
According to the affidavit, the woman “stated that when she opened the door, she advised Dean to leave her alone.” When she “attempted to shut the door, Dean forced himself into the residence and began a verbal altercation.”
He was released under a $2,500 unsecured bond.
Later that week, Dean sat next to “City Councilwoman Tiawana Brown at a press conference where she addressed reporters’ questions about federal charges against her of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud used to falsely obtain pandemic relief loans,” the Observer reported.
Brown was indicted on May 22 on federal charges for an alleged scheme to steal $124,000 in COVID pandemic relief funds.
She reportedly threw herself a $15,000 birthday party with a rented throne and horse-drawn carriage with some of the stolen funds.
The Trump administration has targeted the exploitation of government health care programs by criminal hucksters and left-wing extremists as part of its effort to crack down on government waste, fraud and abuse.
The Department of Justice announced in June that its “National Health Care Fraud Takedown” had resulted in 324 defendants charged in connection with over $14.6 billion in alleged fraud.
The Capital Research Center (CRC), a conservative watchdog based in Washington D.C., recently released a report exposing how left-wing organizations have hijacked the homelessness policy space to advance their radical ideologies. CTC’s 113-page research dossier landed on President Trump’s desk last week during the White House’s Antifa roundtable.
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