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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a former Middlesex County dentist was
sentenced today for billing the Medicaid
program more than $6,000 for general anesthesia
services he did not render.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Gerald J. Whiteman, 69, of Monmouth
Beach, was ordered by Superior Court Judge
Frederick P. DeVesa in Middlesex County
to serve three years in state prison and
pay $13,500 in fines and restitution to
the Medicaid program. Whiteman was also
barred from being a Medicaid provider for
five years. Whiteman was sentenced pursuant
to his Dec. 5 guilty plea to second-degree
health care claims fraud, a charge contained
in a Jan. 8, 2007 state grand jury indictment.
At
his guilty plea hearing before Judge DeVesa,
Whiteman, who was a dentist licensed in
New Jersey, admitted that beginning in 2003,
he submitted fraudulent claims to the Medicaid
program for 38 patients totaling approximately
$6,750 as if he administered the more expensive
general anesthesia, when in fact he administered
only a local anesthetic or nothing at all.
The
Medicaid program, which is funded by the
state and federal governments, provides
health care services and prescription drugs
to persons who might not otherwise be able
to afford them.
Detective
Michael Rasar, Detective Danielle Han, Deputy
Attorney General Alvina Seto and Deputy
Attorney General David Noble were assigned
to the investigation. Deputy Attorney General
Cynthia Vazquez represented the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.
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