Women deny faking bills to Medicaid

Two Springfield women are accused of concocting fake bills that netted them $13,715 in federal Medicaid payments.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150607/THISJUSTIN/706079933

Women deny faking bills to Medicaid By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | June 07,2015 WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Two Springfield women are accused of concocting fake bills that netted them $13,715 in federal Medicaid payments. Jessica Wood, 38, and Angela Martin, 34, pleaded innocent last week to three felony counts apiece of filing fraudulent welfare claims before they were released from White River Junction criminal court. Detective Jefferson Krauss of the Vermont attorney general’s office wrote in an affidavit that both Wood and Martin confessed they had cooperated in a scheme to defraud the Children’s Personal Care Services program, which is administered by Vermont’s Medicaid office. The program is designed to allow parents of children with significant disabilities to hire a part-time caregiver to provide “supplemental assistance with self-care and activities of daily living,” Krauss said. Krauss said his office was contacted last year by a someone who had overheard Wood saying she and her friend, Martin, were splitting the proceeds for care of a disabled young relative of Wood. The informant told investigators Wood had only seen the child in question for a total of a week over the course of the previous two years and that Martin had never provided any care for the child. Krauss said Martin spent a couple of years working for Springfield Hospital and investigators were able to obtain her time cards there. “There are 40 dates from 2013 and 2014 containing a total of 165 hours documenting Martin’s care (for the disabled child) which overlap with hours when she was electronically recorded as being at the hospital,” the detective wrote. Krauss said Martin admitted she and Wood divided the money “about half and half” and “she was sorry.” Wood initially denied any wrongdoing but “ultimately acknowledged that the claims (for payment) were false,” Kruass said. Wood said they submitted the claims “because she was homeless and needed the money,” the detective wrote. Both women could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.