CONSPIRATOR CHARGED WITH FRAUD ORDERED TO PAY $291,000 FOR FALSE DENTAL CHARGES

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Nelinee Deonarine, wife of Azad Ally, formerly a dentist licensed in Maryland and Medicaid provider of dental services in the Silver Spring area, was sentenced to five years in jail, all suspended and placed on five years probation with the requirement that she serve 15 months in home detention for her role as a conspirator in a Medicaid fraud scheme. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Wanda Keyes Heard also ordered Deonarine to pay $291,000 in restitution, $91,000 of which she paid at sentencing.

From August 1997 through May 1999, Deonarine, 43, of 1643 Agnes Avenue, Palm Bay, Florida, submitted nearly 1,500 false claims to a Medicaid health maintenance organization. She and her husband knowingly defrauded the HMO of approximately $282,000.00 by billing for dental services that were never performed. The scheme included billing falsely for putting stainless steel crowns on babies, performing services on teeth that had fallen out and hundreds of procedures on patients who in fact were not treated by her husband. Their dental practice could not produce a single dental record to substantiate the almost $300,000 for which they billed.

Deonarine was in charge of all financial matters related to the practice. She received, endorsed and deposited all of the Medicaid monies received by check and handled all of the banking. Despite receiving nearly $300,000 during a two year period, her records showed only $5,000 actually spent on the dental practice. Dr. Ally pled guilty to felony theft from the Medicaid program. His sentencing is set for October 10, 2006.

The case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office in conjunction with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.