Healthcare Fraud: SHALONDA SUGGS Sentenced for Committing Health Care Fraud and Food Stamp Fraud

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SHALONDA SUGGS Sentenced for Committing Health Care Fraud and Food Stamp Fraud

&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Oklahoma City Woman Pleads Guilty to Committing Health Care Fraud and Food Stamp Fraud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Oklahoma City&comma; Oklahoma<&sol;em> –<strong> SHALONDA SUGGS<&sol;strong>&comma; 36&comma; of Oklahoma City&comma; pled guilty last Thursday to health care fraud in connection with submitting false claims to Medicaid for behavioral health counseling services&comma; announced Mark A&period; Yancey&comma; Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma&comma; and Scott Pruitt&comma; Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma&period;&nbsp&semi; Suggs also pled guilty to stealing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits &lpar;SNAP benefits&comma; formerly known as food stamps&rpar;&comma; which she wrongfully received based on her false statements regarding her income&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>On April 5&comma; 2016&comma; Suggs was indicted on sixteen counts of health care fraud and one count of theft of government funds&period;&nbsp&semi; The Indictment alleged that in July 2013&comma; Suggs opened a behavioral health counseling agency called Focus Pointe Counseling&comma; LLC&period;&nbsp&semi; It is alleged Suggs obtained a contract with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority &lpar;OHCA&rpar;&comma; which allowed Focus Pointe to receive reimbursement from Medicaid for providing behavioral health counseling services to Medicaid-eligible children&period;&nbsp&semi; It was alleged that Suggs then submitted Medicaid claims for behavioral health counseling services that were purportedly provided by four counselors supposedly employed by Focus Pointe&period;&nbsp&semi; It was alleged that the counselors were never actually employed by Focus Pointe and never provided any of the counseling services claimed by Focus Pointe&period;&nbsp&semi; It was alleged that the OHCA paid Focus Pointe for the false claims and that Suggs used the proceeds for her personal benefit&period;&nbsp&semi; It is further alleged that during the time period Suggs was fraudulently receiving funds from the OHCA&comma; she was receiving SNAP benefits by making false statements to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services that she was unemployed and had a negligible source of income&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Last Thursday&comma; Suggs admitted that on February 4&comma; 2015&comma; she used Focus Pointe Counseling to submit a claim to the OHCA using the name and Medicaid provider number of certain counselor for a behavioral counseling session that was supposedly provided to a Medicaid beneficiary on August 16&comma; 2014&period;&nbsp&semi; Suggs admitted that the counselor was not in fact employed by Focus Pointe and that the counseling session was not actually provided&period;&nbsp&semi; She also admitted that from August 2014 through May 2015&comma; she was receiving SNAP benefits that she obtained by making false statements about her lack of income&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>As part of her plea&comma; Suggs agreed to pay restitution to Medicaid in the amount of &dollar;204&comma;334&period;24 and to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the amount of&nbsp&semi; &dollar;4&comma;959&period;00&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>At sentencing&comma; Suggs faces up to 10 years in prison&comma; three years of supervised release&comma; and a &dollar;250&comma;000 fine on each count&period;&nbsp&semi; A sentencing date will be set by the court in approximately 90 days&period;&nbsp&semi; Reference is made to the Indictment and other public filings for further information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Medicaid and SNAP are programs that are funded and administered jointly by the federal government and the State of Oklahoma&period; This case is the result of a cooperative federal and state investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation&comma; the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office&comma; and the United States Department of Agriculture&comma; Office of Inspector General&period;&nbsp&semi; It is being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Amanda Maxfield Green and Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Lory Dewey&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-wdok&sol;pr&sol;oklahoma-city-woman-pleads-guilty-committing-health-care-fraud-and-food-stamp-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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