|
TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that an Essex County pharmacy technician
was sentenced today as a result of 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 never dispensed.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, Shivonne Dlacy Forde, 27, of Orange,
a technician at Pharmacy of America in East
Orange, was sentenced today to three years
of probation by Superior Court Judge Michael
A. Petrolle in Essex County. The judge ordered
that she be excluded from working for any
Medicaid provider for five years. In addition,
Forde was ordered to perform 150 hours of
community service.
Forde
pleaded guilty on March 8 to third-degree
unlawful possession of prescription drugs
with intent to distribute. In pleading guilty,
Forde admitted that she possessed prescription
cough syrup with codeine, without a valid
prescription, which she intended to provide
to others for distribution on the street.
Forde
was charged as a result of Operation PharmScam,
an ongoing investigation targeting Medicaid
fraud that began in 2008 and has been conducted
by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Jersey
City Police Department and the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration’s Office of
Criminal Investigations. Deputy Attorneys
General Sherry Wilson and Debra Conrad represented
the state at today’s sentencing.
On
Oct. 26, 2009, a total of 11 defendants,
including Forde, were indicted as a result
of the investigation into pharmacies that
were buying completed prescription forms
for HIV/AIDS drugs from indigent 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
May 17, Herbert Brandt, 78, of Verona, the
owner of Pharmacy of America, was sentenced
to three years in state prison. Brandt’s
son, Douglas Brandt, 50, of Verona, who
operated Pharmacy of America, was also sentenced
to three years in state prison. The Brandts
were ordered to pay restitution to the Medicaid
program and a civil penalty totaling $1.1
million and were excluded from the Medicaid
program for eight years. Under the plea
agreement, Herbert Brandt also entered into
a consent agreement with the Board of Pharmacy
to surrender his license to practice pharmacy.
The Brandts pleaded guilty on Sept. 23,
2009 to second-degree health care claims
fraud. Douglas Brandt also pleaded guilty
to third-degree witness tampering.
On Feb. 23, Nwala Gabriel, 49, of Piscataway,
pleaded guilty to third-degree Medicaid
fraud for his involvement in the fraudulent
scheme. 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. Gabriel was
sentenced on April 6 to three years of probation.
He must pay restitution and a penalty totaling
$178,272 and will be excluded from the Medicaid
program for three years. Gabriel also surrendered
his license to practice pharmacy and was
ordered to serve 150 hours of community
service.
On
Jan. 19, two other technicians at Pharmacy
of America who were indicted, Jannah Rasheedah
Amatul Muid and Alicia Stephens, pleaded
guilty to third-degree Medicaid fraud. They
were each sentenced on March 8 to three
years of probation by Judge Petrolle. The
judge ordered that they be excluded from
working for any Medicaid provider for five
years. In addition, Muid was ordered to
perform 150 hours of community service,
and Stephens, 100 hours.
The
State of New Jersey administers the Medicaid
program through the Division of Medical
Assistance and Health Services and through
the OIFP’s Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit, which investigates both criminal and
civil Medicaid fraud and abuse in that program.
The
investigation has been conducted for the
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit by Detective
Kevin Gannon, Detective Danielle Han, Detective
Joseph Jaruszewski, Detective Jacqueline
Latty, Sgt. Fred Weidman and former Sgt.
James Wrightson, as well as Auditor Cleair
Budhu.
Deputy
Attorneys General Wilson and 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.
Acting
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Dagli noted that
some important cases have started with anonymous
tips. People who are concerned about insurance
cheating and have information about a suspected
fraud can report it anonymously by calling
the toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD,
or visiting the Web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org
. State regulations permit a reward to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
The
Office of the 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.
### |
