TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that the owner of a Newark pharmacy
was sentenced today in connection with an
investigation into pharmacy owners and employees
who bought completed prescription forms
for HIV/AIDS drugs from indigent patients
so Medicaid could be billed for drugs that
were never actually dispensed.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, Nwala Gabriel, 49, of Piscataway,
was sentenced to three years of probation
by Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle
in Essex County. Judge Petrolle also ordered
Gabriel to pay $178,272 in fines and restitution
and to serve 150 hours of community service.
Gabriel will be excluded from the Medicaid
program for three years. He must surrender
his license to practice pharmacy for a minimum
period of three years or until he successfully
completes all terms of his criminal sentence.
The
sentence was based on Gabriel’s guilty
plea to Medicaid fraud. The charge was contained
in a state grand jury indictment obtained
by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on Oct. 26,
2009.
In
pleading guilty on Feb. 23, Gabriel, the
owner of Harrison Pharmacy on Martin Luther
King Boulevard in Newark, admitted that
he fraudulently billed Medicaid for prescription
drugs that were never dispensed to the Medicaid
beneficiaries.
Deputy
Attorneys General Sherry Wilson and Debra
Conrad represented the Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at today’s sentencing.
Gabriel
was charged as a result of Operation PharmScam,
an ongoing investigation targeting Medicaid
fraud that began in 2008 and has been conducted
by OIFP’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit,
the Jersey City Police Department and the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s
Office of Criminal Investigations.
On
Oct. 26, 2009, a total of 11 defendants,
including Gabriel, were indicted as a result
of the investigation into pharmacies that
were buying prescriptions from patients
and billing the Medicaid Program for medicines
that were never dispensed. A full list of
defendants charged is in the Oct. 26, 2009
press release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
On
Jan. 19, two technicians at Pharmacy of
America who were indicted, Jannah Rasheedah
Amatul Muid and Alicia Stephens, pleaded
guilty to Medicaid fraud. On March 8, Muid
and Stephens were sentenced to three years
probation, ordered to pay a $1,000 civil
fine and were barred from participating
in the Medicaid Program for a period of
five years. Muid was ordered to perform
150 hours of community service, while Stephens
was ordered to perform 100 hours community
service. On the same day, Shivonne Forde,
another Pharmacy of America technician,
pleaded guilty to third-degree possession
with intent to distribute prescription legend
drugs. Forde’s sentencing is scheduled
for June 3.
The
investigation has been conducted for the
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit by Detective
Danielle Han, Detective Joseph Jaruszewski,
Detective Jacqueline Latty, Detective Kevin
Gannon, Sgt. Fred Weidman and Sgt. James
Wrightson. Deputy Attorneys General Sherry
Wilson and Debra Conrad are leading the
prosecutions, with assistance from Deputy
Attorney General Erik Daab, who is Deputy
Chief of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit,
and Deputy Attorneys General William Hoyman,
Cynthia Vazquez, Linda Rinaldi and Carol
Stanton Meier.
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. The
State of New Jersey administers the Medicaid
program through the Division of Medical
Assistance and Health Services and through
the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which investigates
both criminal and civil Medicaid fraud and
abuse in that program.
Anyone
with information about fraud or abuse involving
the Medicaid program or Medicaid providers
is urged to call the Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit toll free at 1-877-55-FRAUD
or report it online at www.NJInsuranceFraud.org.
All information received will remain confidential.
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