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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Warren County speech therapist was
sentenced today for defrauding the New Jersey
Department of Human Services out of $6,500.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Donna Massaro, 48, of Hackettstown,
was ordered by Superior Court Judge Salem
Vincent Ahto in Morris County to serve two
years probation and to pay $6,500 in restitution
to the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
In addition, Massaro’s speech therapist
license was suspended by the Audiology &
Speech Language Pathology Advisory Committee.
Massaro was sentenced pursuant to her April
1 guilty plea to theft by deception. The
charge was contained in a Dec. 4, 2007 Morris
County grand jury indictment.
In
pleading guilty, Massaro admitted that between
May 12, 2003 and Aug. 31, 2005, she submitted
bills monthly for speech therapy services
she did not provide. Massaro was contracted
by Greystone Psychiatric Facility through
Pennhurst Groups, LLC. An investigation
by the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
determined that, based on Massaro’s
fraud, Pennhurst Group billed the New Jersey
Department of Human Services more than $8,000.
Pennhurst was paid $6,500.
Detective
Amy Carson and Deputy Attorney General Steven
B. Farman were assigned to the investigation.
Farman represented the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.
The Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
was established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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