A Los Angeles pastor was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for aiding a $14.2 million Medicare fraud, and hiring parishioners as the church to join in the scheme, the federal government announced on Monday.

The pastor, Christopher Iruke, his wife, Connie Ikpoh and one of their employees, Aura Marroquin were all convicted of conspiracy and health care fraud in August.

The U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter also ordered Iruke and his conspirators to pay back $6.7 million and serve three years of “supervised release” once he is released from prison, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press statement.

The pastor and his wife were both pastors at a now-defunct L.A. church, the Arms of Grace Christian Church, and the wife was also a nurse at Southern California hospitals.

The convicted couple ran one of their fraudulent companies, Pascon Medical Supply, from the church and another at Horizon Medical Equipment.

In 2011, jurors were presented evidence that Iruke bought sham prescriptions and documents that the three convicted conspirators used to bill Medicare for equipment that were either "medically unnecessary or never provided," the Justice Department said.

The department said that they billed Medicare around $6,000 for a power wheelchair when in fact it actually costs $900.

The department also explained that witnesses said that "they and others paid cash kickbacks to street-level marketers to offer Medicare beneficiaries free (devices and equipment) in exchange for the beneficiaries' Medicare card numbers and personal information."

They used the data of beneficiaries to make fraudulent prescriptions and medical documents that were sold to the pastor and others.

The pastor had also instructed two of his employees including the convicted Marroquin to lie to state and federal inspectors and urged them evade law enforcement by talking on cell phones, according to a witness at the trial.

The federal government said that the conspirators submitted $14.2 million in fake Medicare claims, and received a total of $6.7 million in reimbursements.

The employee, Marroquin was sentenced in December and the pastor’s wife, Ikpoh will be sentenced February 27.