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For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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June
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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Essex
County Optician Debarred from Medicaid Program
after Pleading Guilty to $19,900 Medicaid
Fraud |
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TRENTON
- Division of Criminal Justice Director
Vaughn L. McKoy announced that an Essex
County optician has been debarred from
the Medicaid and related programs for
five years after pleading guilty to falsifying
his optician’s license in an attempt
to bilk the Medicaid Program out of more
than $19,900.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden-Brown, Mario Oliveira, Jr.,
42, East Kinney Street, Newark, Essex
County, was ordered by Essex County Superior
Court Judge Harold W. Fullilove to surrender
his Medicaid and related licences for
five years, serve four years probation
and pay more than $19,900 in restitution.
Oliveira pleaded guilty on April 28 to
a criminal Accusation filed by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor charging him with Medicaid
Fraud.
At the guilty plea hearing before Judge
Fullilove, Oliveira, an optician at Clear
Vision Optical, Inc. located in Newark,
admitted that between January 2001 and
January 2003, he altered his outdated
optician’s licence, which had expired
in December 2000, to make it appear current
and valid. Using the fraudulent license,
Oliveira submitted more than 575 bills
totaling more than $19,000 to the Medicaid
Program for reimbursement for eyeglasses.
The Medicaid Program is funded by the
state and federal governments and provides
health care services and prescription
drugs to persons who may not otherwise
be able to afford such services and medicines.
State Investigator William Rodriguez and
Deputy Attorney General Mark J. Ondris
were assigned to the investigation. DAG
Ondris represented the Division of Criminal
Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
at the sentencing. The Division of Medical
Assistance and Health Services, which
helps in the administration of the Medicaid
Program, assisted in the investigation.
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