When criminals commit fraudulent acts, they subject themselves to the risk of being caught and punished for their illegal deeds. (Some fraudsters carefully plan out their ruse and hide their schemes, while others throw caution to the wind in their careless pursuit to take what does not belong to them.) An article published by 1170 KFAQ Tulsa’s Talk Radio follows a counselor who scammed his unsuspecting clients over a very short period of time and stole tens of thousands of dollars from the Medicaid program.
According to the story, the former licensed professional counselor provided services to children. In three short months of employment, he submitted fraudulent bills totaling more than $78,000 to Medicaid. (That works out to about $26,000 a month or $6,500 a week, or $1,300 a day or $162.50 an hour, if he saw clients for 8 hours a day. I’m guessing that was not the case.)
The 58-year-old former counselor who went on a fraudulent billing spree pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts of Medicaid fraud. He was sentenced to 90 days behind bars and will also have to serve 10 years of probation. In addition, he will pay nearly $180,000 in restitution, fines and costs related to the investigation.
In retrospect, it would be interesting to know if the former counselor really thought that no one would notice the number and sizes of bills submitted. By throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of Medicaid dollars, he risked his profession. (I highly doubt that anyone would want to take advice from this guy ever again.)
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