A Tonawanda resident has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony charge of health-care fraud.

Rhonn Gilchrist, 59, a licensed clinical social worker, admitted that from 2002 through 2007, he routinely double-billed insurance companies and submitted fraudulent claim forms seeking payments for treatment he did not provide, according to U.S. Attorney John Rogowski, who handled the case. Gilchrist received $102,000 in payments as a result of the fraudulent billing.

As part of his plea agreement, Gilchrist agreed to pay full restitution to various health-care plans and insurance companies and agreed to a criminal forfeiture of $90,000 in cash and a condominium in Sarasota that he purchased using the proceeds from his criminal activity.

Health-care fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Law enforcers learned about Gilchrist's criminal scheme when one of his patients alerted her insurance company that Gilchrist had billed for several treatments purportedly given to her child, whom Gilchrist had not seen for more than a year previous to the billing dates.