A Georgia man was sentenced to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $5 million for his role in Medicaid fraud schemes that spanned three states.
The schemes involved two companies owned by Glenn Pair, 36, of Stonecrest, Ga., and Markuetric Stringfellow, according to a July 27 U.S. Justice Department news release.
One was a Wrights Care Services franchise that provided Medicaid rehabilitative behavioral health services in Columbia, S.C.. The U.S. Justice Department said that starting in 2014, the pair defrauded the state's Medicaid program by filing fraudulent claims for mental health counseling or other services that were either not provided, partially provided, or did not qualify for Medicaid reimbursement. The men submitted falsified patient billing records and fake medical notes to support the fraudulent reimbursement claims filed.
The other business was an after-school and youth mentoring program in North Carolina called Do-It-4-The Hood. The Justice Department said that from January 2016 to November 2018, they paid people to recruit youths, particularly those who were Medicaid-eligible. Once enrolled, the children were required to submit urine specimens for drug testing, according to the release. The owners conspired with labs to perform the drug testing and received kickbacks once the labs were reimbursed by North Carolina Medicaid. They expanded the scheme to Georgia after moving there in 2017.
The Justice Department said the men submitted thousands of fraudulent Medicaid claims through the schemes, totaling $17 million. The state Medicaid programs paid more than $5 million to the men. The pair also received $1.8 million in kickbacks from laboratories.
Mr. Stringfellow was previously sentenced to 78 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $5.2 million in restitution.