State Medicaid fraud investigation includes case regarding aunt, niece

An investigation by the Indiana Attorney General’s office into Medicaid fraud led to convictions in Northwest Indiana, including a case involving a woman and her niece from Gary.

Charlotte Hunter, 69, of Gary, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and was sentenced April 2 in Hammond’s federal court to time served, followed by two years of supervised release. Hunter also was ordered to pay $195,622.09 in restitution, records show.

Hunter and her niece, Felicia Blount, billed Indiana Medicaid for services not rendered, inflating mileage for trips from Northwest Indiana to Indianapolis by roughly 100 miles per trip, according to a release from the Indiana Attorney General’s office.

Blount worked as an Indiana Medicaid provider, while Hunter, her aunt, was her biller, according to court records. The business, run out of Blount’s aunt’s home, offered Indiana Medicaid beneficiaries transportation to and from medical appointments, according to Blount’s plea deal.

Blount is scheduled to plead guilty April 23 to health care fraud, according to court records.

Jimmie Powers, 67, Monticello, also pleaded guilty to health care fraud and was sentenced April 2 in Hammond’s federal court to 18 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $280,480.93 in restitution, according to the release.

According to court documents, Powers billed Indiana Medicaid for inflated mileage when transporting Medicaid beneficiaries to and from medical appointments, according to the release.

“Exposing waste, fraud and abuse is part of our responsibility as stewards of the public trust,” Hill said in a statement. “Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators work every day to recover taxpayer funds taken wrongfully through fraud and other illegal means. We must continue working to ensure that funds set aside to help society’s most vulnerable members are truly used for that purpose.”

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana on the two investigations as part of a team with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the release states.

The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane L. Berkowitz, according to the release.