NURSE JAILED FOR FELONY MEDICAID FRAUD

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Grayson Turnbull II sentenced Dolores Elaine Scott, of Rebecca Lane in Owings Mills, to a term of imprisonment of 5 years, with all but 18 months suspended, for conviction of felony Medicaid fraud. Scott, who is 64 years old, also received probation of five years and was ordered to pay restitution to the Maryland Medicaid Program of $133,992.

Ms Scott was a registered nurse who provided in home care for a seriously disabled child who was a Medicaid recipient. During the period from June 20, 2002 through July 29, 2004 when her scheme was discovered, she falsified 408 time slips by inflating the number of hours of care she was providing in order to increase her earnings. As a result of this scheme she caused her employer Comprehensive Nursing Service, Inc. to bill Medical Assistance $133, 992 for nursing services that were never provided. Ms. Scott obtained over $90,000 personally by means of this fraud. Comprehensive was not involved but is required by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to repay the State for the money they obtained through Scott’s fraudulent billing.

Ms Scott committed this offense while she was on probation after being convicted of forging State documents in April of 2003 in an attempt to get a wage attachment for unpaid Maryland income taxes removed. Ms Scott still faces a violation of probation hearing for violating her probation on the forgery charge by committing Medicaid fraud. A hearing in that case has not yet been set.

This case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office which has the authority and the responsibility to investigate and prosecute health care providers who engage in fraud while providing services to Medicaid beneficiaries and caregivers who abuse or neglect vulnerable adults.