SIOUX CITY — A Northern Iowa attorney who placed a wrecked and inoperable Rolls-Royce at the center of a scheme to help an elderly couple qualify for Medicaid has been handed six months in federal prison and ordered to repay more than $184,000.
Timothy Mark Anderson of Garner was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand after pleading guilty to making a false statement relating to a health care matter.
A federal judgment entered September 14 orders Anderson to serve six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release.
Anderson must also pay $184,274.36 in restitution, a $25,000 fine and a $100 assessment, which court records indicate has already been paid.
There is no parole in the federal prison system.
Wrecked Rolls-Royce used in Medicaid maneuver
As NIT previously reported when Anderson pleaded guilty, the unusual case grew out of his work providing financial, tax and estate-planning services from his Garner law office.
Those services included helping elderly clients qualify for Iowa Medicaid-funded nursing-home care.
Federal prosecutors said an elderly married couple had more than $400,000 in assets in 2021, including a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox valued at $30,000. The husband was already receiving nursing-home care without public assistance.
The couple wanted to become eligible for Iowa Medicaid, have the government program pay the nursing-home expenses and preserve their assets for their heirs.
Medicaid examines the financial resources available to an applicant and the applicant’s spouse when determining eligibility. One automobile may be excluded from that calculation regardless of its value if it meets state-law requirements.
In October 2021, Anderson deposited a $186,000 check from the elderly woman into his personal savings account. In exchange, he provided her with the title to a 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V and prepared a bill of sale stating that the vehicle had been transferred on October 18.
But the Rolls-Royce had already met with disaster.
Two days before the documented transfer, Anderson was driving the luxury automobile when he crashed it. The Rolls-Royce suffered front-end damage, became inoperable and was hauled to a farm shop.
Attorney claimed battered vehicle was worth $194,000
On November 4, 2021, Anderson submitted documents to Iowa Medicaid in an effort to qualify the husband for nursing-home benefits.
Among those documents was a representation that the battered Rolls-Royce had a fair-market value of $194,000.
Anderson admitted that he knew the inoperable vehicle was not worth $194,000 when he supplied that figure to Iowa Medicaid.
He pleaded guilty October 30, 2025, to one count of making a false statement relating to a health care matter.
The FBI investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek.
Iowa law license now before Supreme Court
Anderson’s federal conviction has also placed his Iowa law license in jeopardy.
The Iowa Supreme Court opened an attorney-disciplinary proceeding after receiving notice of his criminal conviction in July. The Attorney Disciplinary Board filed notice of Anderson’s prison sentence September 14, and attorneys for Anderson filed a response September 17.
The Supreme Court previously announced that it would defer further action until on or after September 23.
As of September 20, the disciplinary case remained listed as incomplete, and the Supreme Court had not issued a final decision suspending or revoking Anderson’s license.