Fourth Brooklyn Home Health Aide Pleads Guilty To Using False Certification

ALBANY, NY (July 2, 2007) –Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that another former Brooklyn-based home health aide, Shogit Karapetyan, pleaded guilty to Petit Larceny before State Supreme Court Justice John Ingram in Brooklyn Supreme Court Part 21.

“Home health aides must be qualified to perform the demanding work we count on in the care of family members,” said Heidi Wendel, head of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. “When individuals attempt to circumvent the required training in order to profit, they not only steal from taxpayers, they endanger patients. The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit continues to go after workers who attempt to use false certifications.”

Karapetyan, 56 (of Brooklyn), pleaded guilty June 22 and will pay restitution in the amount of $3,000 at time of sentencing, scheduled for September 24.

Karapetyan and others, including three other home health aides who pleaded guilty earlier this month, Irina Barisavili Jansen, 43 (formerly of Brooklyn, now in Colorado); Bella Scott, 42 (of Bayshore, Queens) and Ano Chiarella, 47 (of Montauk), purchased bogus certificates falsely certifying that they had been trained to provide home health services. Under the law, these services must be provided by those who have successfully completed a training program licensed by the Department of Health or the State Education Department, with a minimum 75 hours of training and 16 hours of supervised practical training by a Registered Nurse.

The home health aide cases are being prosecuted by New York City Regional Director Richard Harrow. The investigation is being handled by Mike Casado and Fred Rondina with Auditors Cristina Truta and Paul Erhardt.