JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Two sisters who previously worked for the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center in Mountain Home have pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a news release Thursday that twin sisters Monika and Teresa Schorer, 59, both of Jonesborough, entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud on Wednesday.

Both women face up to 20 years in federal prison, up to $250,000 in fines and three years of supervised release.

The Schorers agreed to pay a combined $426,309 in restitution. They are set to be sentenced on July 23.

According to the DOJ, the Schorers “accepted cash bribe payments from individuals who worked as surgical sales representatives for an independent distributor of a nationwide orthopedic company that manufactured replacement joints and products used during surgeries in which those joints were implanted.”

The DOJ previously identified the sales representatives as Eric Smith and Landon Chester. Both pleaded guilty to bribery and wire fraud charges related to their VA activities in January 2024.

Those sales representatives later formed their own company and started selling their inventory at Mountain Home VA at “inflated prices or when not medically necessary,” the DOJ reports. Those sales resulted in losses to the VA.

As part of their plea agreements, Monika and Teresa Schorer admitted that they conspired and took cash bribes from the sales representatives in 2018 to continue purchasing the overpriced inventory.

One bribe payment was $9,900, and another was $7,000, both given to the Schorers in the fall of 2018.