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For
Immediate Release
March 22, 2007 |
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White Plains Man Convicted of Medicaid Fraud
Baltimore
Company Has Ties To Other Companies Convicted of Medicaid Fraud
Attorney General Douglas
F. Gansler announced today that Dr. Angelo Reynolds, 39, of the
8400 block of Pattette Place in White
Plains, Maryland, pled guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to one
count of felony Medicaid fraud for defrauding the Medicaid program
of at least $175,000. Reynolds’ plea was accepted by the
Honorable John M. Glynn.
Reynolds was the owner
of MYPO, Inc., a mental health clinic that had its principal
office at 1600 Calvert Street in Baltimore.
From November, 2003, through June, 2004, Reynolds’ company
billed Medicaid $496,000 for mental health therapy sessions it
purportedly provided to residents of Baltimore City and Prince
George’s County. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney
General revealed that throughout the seven month period, MYPO routinely
billed Medicaid for services Reynolds knew had not been performed.
On many occasions, MYPO billed for multiple therapy sessions before
anyone from the company had met with the patient. Additionally,
company documents showed that Reynolds’ company billed for
having treated patients during time periods when no therapist was
even assigned to the individual seeking therapy.
MYPO received the vast majority of its patients as a result of
referrals from The Bridges Project, LLC, a provider of unskilled
counseling services to eligible Medicaid recipients in the Baltimore
area. Prior to referring patients to MYPO, Bridges referred patients
to Dr. James An Nguyen, a psychiatrist. Dr. Nguyen pled guilty
in 2005 to defrauding Medicaid of $340,000 and received a sentence
that included 18 months incarceration. Two of the owners of Bridges,
Guy Bell and Robin Carroll-El, have been charged with felony Medicaid
fraud and theft in connection and are scheduled to go to trial
in Baltimore Circuit Court on May 16, 2007
Sentencing for Reynolds is scheduled for May 8, 2007. Felony
Medicaid fraud carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and
a fine of $100,000.
The case was prosecuted
by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Maryland Attorney
General’s Office. The MFCU conducted
the investigation with assistance from the Mental Hygiene Administration
(MHA), which suspended payments to MYPO in June of 2004. MHA has
been working with the MFCU to root out fraud in its programs, and
several cases of fraudulent behavior by MHA providers have been
successfully prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Gansler
thanked Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstock for his work
on the case.
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