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For Immediate Release:  
For Further Information:
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February 23, 2009  

Division of Criminal Justice
609-292-4791

Office of The Attorney General
- Anne Milgram, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Deborah L. Gramiccioni, Director
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
- Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance Fraud Prosecutor

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Owners and Employee of Newark Home Health Care Agency Sentenced for Submitting Fraudulent Medicaid Bills
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor to Seek $1 Million in Restitution

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TRENTON - Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that two North Jersey residents were sentenced today 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, 39, of Newark, was ordered by Superior Court Judge Robert Gardner in Essex County to serve three years in state prison. On Dec. 12, Cureton pleaded guilty to health care claims fraud. Cureton’s co-defendants, Kimberly D. Hall, aka Kim Hall, aka Kim Turner, 49, of Scotch Plains, was ordered to serve three-years probation conditioned upon 364 days house arrest. Hall pleaded guilty on Dec. 12 to Medicaid fraud. The charges were contained in a Dec. 18, 2007 state grand jury indictment.

On Feb. 6, Judge Gardner sentenced Ollie Sabrina Kimble, aka Sabrina Kimble, 43, also of Newark, to three years probation and ordered her to serve 50 hours of community service. Kimble also pleaded guilty on Dec. 12 to Medicaid fraud.

Hall and Cureton owned and operated Touch of Life, LLC, 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 aide 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 cannot otherwise be able to afford such services and medicines.

At a restitution hearing, which is not yet scheduled, 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 sentencing.

“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.”

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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