Woman pleads in Medicaid fraud case

A Springfield woman accused of falsely billing Medicaid for providing elderly care has made a plea deal with prosecutors.





News Release — Vermont Attorney General’s Office
March 23, 2015


Contact: Jason M. Turner
Assistant Attorney General
(802) 828-5332


Theresa Ambrose of Springfield, Vermont, was convicted on March 16, 2015, in Vermont Superior Court, Windsor Criminal Division, of two misdemeanor counts of False Pretenses. The convictions stemmed from Ms. Ambrose’s submission of false timesheets in order to obtain payment for services that she did not provide while she was employed as a home-based health care worker under the Choices for Care program, a Vermont Medicaid program.

Ms. Ambrose was sentenced to 12 to 24 months in jail, all suspended, and placed on 24 months of probation subject to standard conditions, and the additional conditions that she complete 40 hours of community service and not work as a care provider under any Vermont Medicaid waiver program. Ms. Ambrose was also ordered to pay $4,841 in restitution to Vermont Medicaid.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit within the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.

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http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150322/NEWS02/703229983

Woman pleads in Medicaid fraud case By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | March 22,2015 Ambrose WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield woman accused of falsely billing Medicaid for providing elderly care has made a plea deal with prosecutors. Theresa Ambrose, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of false pretenses and the state dismissed a felony charge of Medicaid fraud in the agreement last week in White River Junction criminal court. Ambrose received two concurrent sentences of six to 12 months, which were suspended. She was placed on two years’ probation and ordered to complete 40 hours of community service. Detective Virginia Merriam of the Vermont attorney general’s office wrote in an affidavit that Ambrose was paid more than $9,000 in federal respite care funds during a six-month period ending in January 2013 for services she was supposedly providing to an elderly relative. Merriam said investigators became aware Ambrose also had a full time job, so they checked the residence where she was supposedly providing care services. Ambrose was absent, but the detective said she billed Medicaid for the time investigators were at the house. Merriam said she obtained work records from Ambrose’s employer and determined that the woman had billed for 16 hours of personal care services on days she also worked eight hours at her job. “Therefore she claimed she worked for 24 hours a day on each of 32 days” that were checked, Merriam wrote. Under the plea agreement, Ambrose must repay the money when she is able to do so.