9 arrested in Medicaid fraud scheme

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Apr 17, 2009 - Page: 5B

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Nine people were arrested Wednesday in an alleged Medicaid fraud scheme that cost the federal program thousands of dollars for services not rendered, state Attorney General’s Office officials said Thursday.

The arrestees are former and current personal-care attendants at First Thessalonians Community Programs in Hammond, said Tammi Arender Herring, director of communications of the Attorney General’s Office.

First Thessalonians is a licensed Medicaid provider that offers personal-care services to people who are disabled, Herring said.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, working with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, believe the suspects submitted falsified timesheets and service logs for work that was not performed, she said.

A woman reached at First Thessalonians, who refused to give her name, said she did not know anything about the arrests.

Those booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, and the counts against them, are:

• Wanda Michelle Baham, 31, 604 J.W. Davis Drive, Hammond, 66 counts Medicaid fraud, and 66 counts filing or maintaining false public records.
• Gloria Burton, 62, 18253 Old Covington Highway, Hammond, six counts Medicaid fraud, and six counts filing or maintaining false public records.
• Joyce M. Cyprian, 52, 109 E. David Drive, Hammond, 113 counts Medicaid fraud, and 113 counts maintaining false public records.
• Markita M. Guillory, 21, 13054 Quick Blvd., No. 307, Hammond, 44 counts Medicaid fraud, and 44 counts maintaining false public records.
• Roger O. Green, 48, 11213 Dillon Road, Kentwood, 50 counts Medicaid fraud, and 50 counts maintaining false public records.
• Sonji Johnson, 42, address not available, five counts Medicaid fraud, and five counts maintaining false public records.
• Jasmine S. Jones, 27, address not available, 62 counts Medicaid fraud, and five counts maintaining false public records.
• Katina L. Smith, 35, 43353 Happywoods Road, No. 40, Hammond, 10 counts Medicaid fraud, and five counts maintaining false public records.
• Robin W. Williams, 50, 802 Hope St., Hammond, 62 counts Medicaid fraud, and five counts maintaining false public records.