A man from Los Angeles County is set to be sentenced on Friday for his involvement in a fraudulent scheme that defrauded the state’s Drug Medi-Cal program of $18.5 million. The scheme involved submitting false claims for alcohol and drug treatment services for high school and middle school students.
Gregory Hearns, a 67-year-old resident of Compton, was found guilty of health care fraud at trial last year. However, he was acquitted of 10 additional counts. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has stated that Hearns’ guilty verdict brings the total number of convictions to 19 in connection with the fraudulent bills submitted by Atlantic Recovery Services (ARS), a non-profit organization based in Long Beach which provided substance use disorder treatment services to local high schools and middle schools through the Medi-Cal and Drug Medi-Cal programs.
Hearns served as the billing supervisor for ARS and was responsible for compiling the monthly billing and submitting it to Medi-Cal. The evidence presented during the trial showed his involvement.
The government is recommending a 70-month prison sentence for Hearns, while his attorneys are seeking a non-custodial penalty.
According to court documents, the participants in the ARS scheme defrauded the Drug Medi-Cal program by submitting false bills for services that students did not medically require for alcohol or drug treatment. Additionally, ARS billed Drug Medi-Cal for counseling sessions, both group and individual, which were either not provided or did not meet the reimbursement requirements. To support these fraudulent billings, ARS employees falsified numerous documents.
The former president and CEO of ARS, Richard Ciampa, pleaded guilty to federal charges two years ago and was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
Between the period ending in March 2013, ARS submitted false and fraudulent claims totaling just over $18.5 million. The Drug Medi-Cal program paid $17,635,100 on these claims, as revealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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