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For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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July
13, 2005
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Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
Division
of Criminal Justice
- Vaughn L. McKoy, Director
Office of the Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor
- Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor
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Rachel
Sacharow
609-984-1936
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Monmouth
County Pharmacist Sentenced to State Prison
for Medicaid Fraud Scam
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TRENTON
- Division of Criminal Justice Director
Vaughn L. McKoy announced that a Monmouth
County pharmacist has been sentenced to
state prison and ordered to pay more than
$450,000 in fines and restitution after
pleading guilty to using “runners”
and paying kickbacks to medical providers
as part of a scam to defraud Medicaid.
The Medicaid Program, which is funded
by the state and federal governments,
provides health care services and prescription
drugs to persons who may not otherwise
be able to afford such services and medicines.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden-Brown, Rammohan Pabbathi,
58, Amy Court, Howell, was sentenced by
Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Bette
E. Uhrmacher to three years in state prison
and ordered to pay $450,000 in restitution
and fines to the Medicaid Program. Pabbathi
paid the $450,000 prior to sentencing.
Brown noted that Pabbathi pled guilty
to a criminal Accusation filed by the
Division
of Criminal Justice - Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor on March
23. The Accusation charged Pabbathi with
Health Care Claims Fraud. In pleading
guilty, Pabbathi, the owner/operator of
GLV Parke Warner Pharmacy in Neptune,
Monmouth County, admitted that he fraudulently
billed Medicaid for prescriptions that
the pharmacy did not dispense. An undercover
investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
determined that Pabbathi paid “kickbacks”
to patients for prescriptions that were
then submitted to Medicaid. In one instance,
an undercover investigator posed as a
Medicaid recipient and presented a prescription
for an expensive HIV medicine. The Medicaid
recipient did not pick up the medication,
yet Pabbathi billed Medicaid as if the
drug had been dispensed. The Medicaid
Program paid $1,130 for that one prescription
medication.
State Investigators Jacqueline Latty and
Robert McGrath, and Deputy Attorney General
Erik W. Daab were assigned to the investigation.
DAG Daab represented the Division of Criminal
Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
at the sentencing. The Division of Medical
Assistance and Health Services assisted
in the investigation.
# # #
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