Ex-officer sentenced, ordered to pay over $57K in Medicaid fraud

A former Greenwich police officer was sentenced Thursday on a charge of cruelty to persons following an investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.

Michael Mastronardi, 49, of Shelton pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to one count of cruelty to persons “for intentionally depriving another of proper physical care,” Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin said in a release from the Division of Criminal Justice on Friday. In addition, Mastronardi was ordered to pay $57,278.24 in restitution to the Department of Social Services to reimburse Medicaid.

Judge David P. Gold gave Mastronardi a three-year suspended jail sentence and three years of conditional discharge, according to the DCJ. Mastronardi was also ordered not to act as a provider in the Medicaid program and “no new arrests for which probable cause is found,” the DCJ said.

Between August 2014 and April 2019, an investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit showed that Mastronardi was enrolled as a provider in the Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program, a federal and statefunded Medicaid program that provides individuals with permanent, severe or chronic disabilities a PCA to physically assist them with daily activities that allow them to stay in their homes. Mastronardi reportedly billed Medicaid, and was paid, for helping his uncle between August 2014 and April 2019, court records show.

Some of his uncle’s other caregivers told investigators that they never saw Mastronardi, and the uncle himself told a caregiver his family members “don’t want to help him with nothing,” according to court records.

Court records also stated that inspectors reportedly found numerous overlapping dates and times that showed that Mastronardi was working for the Greenwich Police Department during the time he claimed he was a personal care assistant.

In the 2019 arrest warrant affidavit, investigators said they reviewed Mastronardi’s hours with the police department and his hours working private-duty jobs, for which officers are paid by entities outside of the department. “Out of twenty-nine (29) private duty jobs reviewed between 2/23/2016 and 1/6/2017, the hours paid by Medicaid overlapped the private duty hours twenty-four (24) times,” the affidavit said.

“Inspectors conducted interviews and surveillance, confirming that Mastronardi was not at the recipient’s residence, as claimed, during overnight hours,” Griffin said in the release. “By leaving the recipient unattended, Mastronardi intentionally deprived the recipient of proper physical care.”

Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public healthcare system is asked to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney at 860-2585986.