TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Camden County dentist has been sentenced
for billing Medicaid more than $103,000
for dental services she did not perform.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Mitra Abdollahi, 41, of Moorestown,
was sentenced Friday, Jan. 18, to serve
364 days in the county jail as a condition
of a five-year term of probation by Superior
Court Judge Thomas A. Brown Jr. in Camden
County. She was ordered to pay $103,409
in restitution to the Medicaid program,
as well as $103,409 in fines and penalties.
Abdollahi also was barred from participating
in any federal- or state-funded health insurance
program for eight years. The sentence was
pursuant to Abdollahi’s Nov. 5, 2007
guilty plea to a criminal accusation that
charged her with Medicaid fraud.
At
the guilty plea hearing before Judge Brown,
Abdollahi, admitted that between Jan. 1,
2002 and May 22, 2007, she submitted fraudulent
bills to the Medicaid program in connection
with treatments purportedly rendered to
Medicaid recipients. Abdollahi admitted
that she billed for tooth fillings that
she did not provide to patients, for extracting
teeth that were not extracted, and for use
of anesthesia when it was either not used
or improper to bill separately for anesthesia
given the nature of the dental procedure.
The
accusation was filed by the Division of
Criminal Justice’s Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor - Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit, which investigates and prosecutes
both civil and criminal Medicaid fraud-related
cases.
State
Investigator Christine Barclay and Deputy
Attorney General Linda A. Rinaldi were assigned
to the investigation. Rinaldi represented
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
at the sentencing.
The
Medicaid program, which is funded by the
state and federal governments, provides
health care services and prescription drugs
to persons who may not otherwise be able
to afford such services and medicines.
#
# # |
