TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced
that a Jersey City pharmacy owner pleaded
guilty today for his role in a scheme in which
two pharmacies billed Medicaid for HIV/AIDS
drugs that were never dispensed.
According to Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Shahid Mahmood,
49, of Jersey City, a co-owner of MLK Pharmacy
on M.L.K. Drive in Jersey City, pleaded guilty
today before Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan
in Hudson County to an accusation that charged
him with second-degree health care claims
fraud.
An investigation led by the
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor revealed that
MLK Pharmacy and Ampere Pharmacy on 4th Avenue
in East Orange fraudulently billed Medicaid
for hundreds of thousands of dollars in prescription
drugs. Two men who owned Ampere and were co-owners
with Mahmood of MLK Pharmacy previously pleaded
guilty.
The state will recommend that
Mahmood be sentenced to three years in state
prison and be ordered to pay $216,220 in restitution
and fines. He is scheduled for sentencing
on July 23.
In pleading guilty, Mahmood
admitted that between January 2005 and October
2007, he submitted fictitious bills to the
Medicaid program claiming MLK Pharmacy dispensed
HIV/AIDS medicines and other prescription
drugs to customers, when in reality the drugs
were never dispensed.
Previously,
John Borges, 45, and Abdul Bari, 54, co-owners
of MLK Pharmacy and Ampere Pharmacy, each
pleaded guilty to second-degree health care
claims fraud and third-degree filing a false
or fraudulent New Jersey income tax return.
In pleading guilty, they admitted they bought
prescriptions for HIV/AIDS drugs from Medicaid
participants for a small fraction of the cost
of the drugs, and in turn billed Medicaid
thousands of dollars without dispensing the
drugs.
On Dec. 5, 2008, Judge Callahan
sentenced Bari to three years in state prison
and ordered him to pay $500,000 in fines and
restitution.
Borges is scheduled for sentencing
on June 17. The state will recommend that
Borges also receive a sentence of three years
in prison and be ordered to pay $750,000 in
restitution, fines and forfeited assets.
“By defrauding the Medicaid
program, this defendant not only stole tax
dollars, he stole from a program dedicated
to providing health care coverage for persons
who otherwise could not afford it,”
said Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown. “Such cases are a priority for
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.”
Detective Kevin Gannon, Detective
Joseph Jaruszewski and Deputy Attorney General
Erik W. Daab were assigned to the investigation
into this case. Deputy Attorney General Daab
represented the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor at the guilty plea hearing.
Sgt. James Wrightson and Deputy
Attorney General Carol Stanton Meier were
assigned to the asset forfeiture case for
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.
The Jersey City Police Department also assisted
in this investigation. Prosecutor Brown thanked
the Jersey City Police Department for their
valuable assistance.
The Medicaid program is funded
by the state and federal governments. The
State of New Jersey administers the Medicaid
program through the Division of Medical Assistance
and Health Services and through the Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s Medicaid
Fraud Control Unit, which investigates both
criminal and civil Medicaid fraud and abuse
in that program.
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