TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that the manager of an adult day health
services facility was sentenced today to
state prison for defrauding the Medicaid
program. The facility is no longer in business.
According
to Assistant Attorney General John Kennedy,
Salvatore Chillemi, 50, of Sewell, was sentenced
to three years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge Christine Allen-Jackson in Gloucester
County and was ordered to pay $147,076 in
fines and penalties. The defendant was also
barred from participation in the Medicaid
program and any other federally or state
funded health insurance or prescription
assistance program for a term of eight years.
The sentence was based on Chillemi’s
April 11 guilty plea to an accusation that
charged him with second-degree health care
claims fraud.
Chillemi
served as the manager/director and client
outreach coordinator for Shore Winds Adult
Medical Day Care, an adult day health services
facility located in Somers Point. In pleading
guilty, the defendant admitted that between
May 8, 2006 and Nov. 8, 2010, he fraudulently
submitted five or more claims for adult
day health services valued at a total of
more than $1,000, purportedly provided to
Medicaid beneficiaries. An investigation
by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
determined that the services for which the
claims were submitted were either not provided,
or not provided to the extent for which
they were billed.
Detective
Joseph Jaruszewski, Detective Jacqueline
Latty and Deputy Attorney General Erik Daab,
Chief of the Medicaid Fraud Unit, and Deputy
Attorney General Oriana Nadraga were assigned
to the investigation. Deputy Attorney General
Nadraga represented the state at the guilty
plea and sentencing hearings. Deputy Attorney
General Carol Stanton Meier is assigned
to the asset forfeiture action for the Division
of Criminal Justice. Assistant Attorney
General Kennedy thanked the Department of
Health and Senior Services and the Office
of the State Comptroller for their assistance
in the investigation.
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