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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
announced that three North Jersey residents
pleaded guilty on Friday for fraudulently
billing the Medicaid program for services
that were never rendered or were ineligible
for Medicaid reimbursement.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Willie T. Cureton, aka William T.
Curaton, aka Willie Curation, 39, of Newark,
pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge
Robert Gardner in Essex County on Friday,
Dec. 12, to second-degree health care claims
fraud. Cureton’s co-defendants, Kimberly
D. Hall, aka Kim Hall, aka Kim Turner, 49,
Scotch Plains, and Ollie Sabrina Kimble,
aka Sabrina Kimble, 43, also of Newark,
each pleaded guilty to third-degree Medicaid
Fraud. The charges were contained in a Dec.
18, 2007 state grand jury indictment.
Hall and Cureton owned and operated Touch
of Life Home Health Agency, located at 61
Chelsea Avenue in Newark, and Kimble was
an office coordinator.
At the guilty plea hearing, the defendants
admitted that between March 2003 and May
2004, they fraudulently billed Medicaid
for personal care assistant services which
were rendered at Class C boarding homes
and residential health care facilities.
Medicaid regulations do not permit billing
for personal care assistants and home health
aides services in Class C boarding homes
and residential health care facilities because
such facilities are already paid by the
Medicare program for personal care services
for the residents.
Touch of Life provided assistance to patients,
including services provided by personal
care assistants and home health aides. Personal
care assistants and home health aides provide
day-to-day assistance to patients who are
otherwise unable to care for themselves,
including dressing and feeding patients,
taking care of homes, assisting with the
taking of medicines and related responsibilities.
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.
At a restitution hearing, the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor will seek to
prove that Hall and Cureton fraudulently
billed Medicaid for more than 60,000 hours
of services, and were paid nearly $1 million
by Medicaid.
Detectives Jacqueline Latty and Charles
Wells, Auditor Kim Geis, and Deputy Attorneys
General Riza Dagli and Linda Rinaldi were
assigned to the investigation. Deputy Attorney
General Rinaldi represented the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty
plea hearing.
“Abuse of the Medicaid program and
insurance fraud by persons who hold professional
licenses are particularly disturbing crimes,”
Prosecutor Brown said. “Not only do
such Medicaid fraud schemes involve theft
of tax dollars, they also represent a theft
from a program designed to assist persons
who cannot afford health insurance or health
care services. Such cases are a priority
for the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.”
The defendants are scheduled to appear before
Judge Gardner on Feb. 6 to be sentenced.
The plea agreement calls for Cureton to
serve three years in state prison, for Hall
to serve three years probation conditioned
upon 364 days in county jail, and for Kimble
to serve three years non-custodial probation.
Prosecutor
Brown noted that some important cases have
started with anonymous tips. People who
are concerned about insurance cheating and
have information about a fraud can report
it anonymously by calling the toll-free
hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD
or visiting the Web site www.njinsurancefraud.org.
State regulations permit an award to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
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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