A.G. Schneiderman Announces Guilty Plea & Sentencing Of Medicaid Recipient To Six Months In Jail For Collaborating With His Personal Care Aide In Kickback Scheme Orchestrated From His Jail Cell

GATES – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the guilty plea and sentencing of Medicaid recipient David Epps to six months in jail for engaging in a kickback scheme with his personal care aide.  The facts are substantially as follows: over the course of approximately six weeks last summer, Epps’ personal care aide submitted time sheets to her employer and ultimately Medicaid, indicating that she had provided personal care services to him, when in fact she had not since Epps was incarcerated during that time.  Epps had an agreement with his aide that she would falsify the time sheets indicating that she had provided him services when in fact she had not.  Once the aide was paid by her employer, she kicked back approximately $100 per pay check for the phony services.  The theft resulted in over $5,000 worth of false billings to Medicaid.

“The Medicaid program is designed to help and protect those who rely on it, not to be used as a personal piggy bank for scam artists,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “My office will keep fighting to ensure that those who scheme to defraud Medicaid will be held accountable.”

The Rochester Regional Office of the New York State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) began investigating this case when it received a self-referral from Innovative Care, LLC, of Monroe County, when they discovered that one of their employees was billing for services to Medicaid recipient David Epps, while he was incarcerated. 

The case was investigated by Special Investigator David Giudici and Principal Auditor/ Investigator Thomas Clarke with assistance from MFCU Deputy Chief Investigator William Falk. The case is being prosecuted by Catherine Wagner, Director of the Rochester Regional MFCU Office and the Upstate Chief of Criminal Investigations.  The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is led by Acting Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul Mahoney. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.