Bridgeport woman gets 2 years in prison for role in Medicaid fraud – CTPost

BRIDGEPORT — A city resident was recently sentenced to serve two months in prison and has been ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution for her role in a health care fraud scheme, according to the state Department of Justice.

Toshirea Jackson, 50, of Bridgeport, will serve her 24-month sentence, followed by three years of supervised release, the DOJ said in a news release on Thursday.

Court documents said that beginning in January 2012, Jackson and Juliet Jacob operated two businesses at 360 Fairfield Ave. in Bridgeport. The two businesses — Transitional Development And Training and It Takes A Promise — provided social and psychotherapy services.

An investigation found that Jackson and Jacob used the businesses to bill Medicaid for psychotherapy services that were never rendered, the DOJ said.

As part of the scheme, the DOJ said, Jackson and Jacob used the Medicaid provider numbers of two licensed health care providers who had not provided or supervised any of the series Jackson and Jacob billed to Medicaid.

Jackson and the two licensed providers were employees of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

tThe DOJ said the two providers didn’t authorize Jackson or Jacob to get provider numbers for them at the two Bridgeport businesses and were unaware that the businesses were billing Medicaid as if they were involved in the services being rendered.

Further investigation showed that in March 2012, Nikkita Chesney started to steal the personal identification information of Medicaid clients who were patients of her employer. The DOJ said she was employed by a health care provider that offered substance abuse treatment, including a detoxification program in Bridgeport.

The personal information Chesney stole from patients included their dates of birds, Medicaid identification number and Social Security numbers.

From there, Jackson, Jacob and Chesney used the stolen information to bill Medicaid for psychotherapy services provided by TDAT and ITAP, when the clients never received that treatment, the DOJ said.

Jackson admitted the scheme involved stealing the identity of more than 150 Medicaid clients. She said her and her co-conspirators billed Medicaid for about half of those clients. She also admitted that she and her co-conspirators billed Medicaid for services to other services that were never provided to those clients.

Jackson was ordered by a judge to pay $2,496,618 in restitution. She pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud on Dec. 13, 2018. She was released on a $25,000 bond and will report to prison on July 12.

On Oct. 18, 2018, Jacob pleaded guilty to the same charge for her role in this scheme and a separate Medicaid fraud scheme. Chesney pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on Oct. 23, 2018. They both await sentencing.

Five others have been charged in convicted of health care fraud offense as a result of this and related investigations, according to the DOJ.

Anyone who suspects health care fraud can report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS.

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