NYWFIA News. New York Welfare Fraud Investigators Association. Volume 28 Issue 2 Spring 2011

Transcription

1 NYWFIA News Page NYWFIA News New York Welfare Fraud Investigators Association Volume 28 Issue 2 Spring 2011 Message from the President, James D. Dadamio Dear Colleague: Remnants of the winter season are still among us, but spring has finally arrived! Spring is exciting, fresh and new. This coincides nicely with our Association s mission of providing you, the member, with exciting, fresh, and new training tools designed to help you combat fraud and abuse in your part of our State. These training tools will be abundant this June at our 28 th Annual Training Seminar in the Capital Region Albany! Enclosed with this newsletter is all of the information you need to register and attend our Annual Training Seminar. In addition, our partners at the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the Office of Children and Family Services are diligently spreading the word to each local district Commissioner, Staff Development Coordinator, Fraud Director, Child Care Director and associated staff who are involved with fraud prevention, detection and prosecution on a regular basis. With these notifications I am confident that everyone will be fully informed of this first class training opportunity being held June 12 15, The agenda being offered this year is packed with the training sessions that will help you perform your core functions, enhance your current investigative skills, and learn new and exciting processes that you can employ on a daily basis, all designed to make us better at detecting and preventing welfare fraud. The State and counties continue to face challenges with delivering the vital services that so many people depend on. Each of us has witnessed the increased demand for services, yet the resources to deliver those services have not increased with this demand. As we find ways to accomplish much more with less and to think of innovative and creative ways to conduct our jobs, many of the training sessions we will offer at the upcoming Albany Seminar are designed to help you achieve those goals. Once again our partners at OTDA and OCFS are demonstrating that they recognize the importance and value NYWFIA offers and the critical role our members play. Once again, our partners are offering both the expertise of their respective staffs and 147 conference registration scholarships for selected attendees. These scholarships are offered to assist you with attending the conference, while minimizing the financial impact of your attendance on your county s training budget. Finally, I have had the honor to serve the NYWFIA membership for eleven years as a regional representative, Third Vice President and ultimately as President. Our June conference will be bittersweet for me as it will be my final seminar as your President. I thank you for the opportunity to represent you and am honored and humbled to have served in this capacity. Two other long term and critical NYWFIA Officers are also at the end of their terms and are moving on. Second Vice President Andrew Weiss and our Treasurer Laurie Fregeau are both completing their NYWFIA careers. I want to thank Andrew and Laurie for the years of dedication and commitment they have shown to me and gave to our Association. Together, our efforts have made a difference and I feel that the Association is in a better place than when we started. Although this chapter in NYWFIA s history is coming to a close, this is also an opportunity for new people to take NYWFIA into the future. I truly believe that the Association must have new faces, new thoughts, and new ideas so we can continue to grow and improve. Now it is up to you to get involved! Our June elections will be critical in determining the future direction of our Association. We have some of the most brightest and talented people I have had the pleasure of meeting as NYWFIA members. I encourage you to seize this opportunity, share your talents with your peers, and run for regional representative or a position on the NYWFIA Board! I look forward to seeing you in June!

2 NYWFIA News Page 2 Arrests From Around the State Albany County An Albany landlord and her daughter were arraigned on a 24-count indictment including charges they stole thousands of dollars in rent deposits from the Albany County Department of Social Services. Mahadaye Khan, an accountant, owns dozens of rental properties across the city. The indictment charges Khan with two counts of grand larceny and four counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies. She also was charged with 12 counts of petit larceny, a misdemeanor, and two counts of occupying without a certificate of occupancy, a violation. Her daughter, Shereen Khan, was charged with one count of grand larceny and three counts of petit larceny. The grand larceny counts in the indictment allege collective rent deposits of more than $3,000 were stolen from the county involving 15 tenants. Broome County A Binghamton woman was sentenced Tuesday in Broome County Court for defrauding Medicaid of more than $59,000. Mary Bidwell pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge. Bidwell hired her daughter, Amy Rivera, to provide Medicaid services to Bidwell s 20-yearold disabled son. Bidwell forged Rivera s signature on time sheets that were submitted to the Southern Tier Independence Center and fraudulently billed Medicaid for more than 3,100 hours of services that were not actually rendered over a two-year period. Under state Medicaid regulations, spouses and parents cannot be hired as personal care assistants for people with disabilities. Chautauqua County Tiffany Patanella was charged with two counts of first-degree offering a false instrument, one count of thirddegree welfare fraud and one count of misuse of food stamps and Dewayne Farley Jr. was charged with one count of third-degree welfare fraud and one count of misuse of food stamps. Both allegedly failed to notify Social Services officials that they were employed and received $5, to which they were not entitled. In a separate case, Michelle D. Rosales was charged with five counts of offering a false instrument for filing and one count of misuse of food stamps. She allegedly failed to notify DSS that she was employed, therefore receiving $9,527 in food stamp benefits to which she was not entitled. Chemung County Nicole L. Rodriquez was sentenced to 90 days in jail, five years probation and restitution of $6,683 for her conviction of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a class E felony. Rodriquez admitted that in September 2008 she applied for benefits but did not report that she was receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Essex County John Maye defrauded the Home Energy Assistance Program between 2006 and 2010 by submitting applications containing false statements. He pleaded guilty to five counts of firstdegree offering a false instrument, all felonies, and four counts of fifth-degree welfare fraud, all misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty to petit larceny and paid $2,350 in restitution Friday. Fulton County Sixteen people were arrested between September and January of this year for welfare fraud. Among them is Melissa Vazquez of Gloversville, who is charged with grand larceny and welfare fraud after investigators found she received food stamps, Medicaid, and HEAP assistance after failing to report over $464,000 in compensation she received after her father was killed in the September 11th attacks in New York City. Vasquez was sentenced to serve one year in jail and repay the $12,412 that she stole. Greene County Joan and George Rollins were arrested and charged with grand larceny and welfare fraud, both felonies, and filing a false instrument, a misdemeanor. The pair stole $160 in food stamp benefits and $1,835 in HEAP benefits by knowingly failing to inform the Greene County Department of Social Services of employment income. The arrests were made following an investigation by the Greene County Department of Social Services, the Sheriff s Office and the District Attorney s Office. Christina Brock was arrested and charged with welfare fraud, grand larceny, and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies. Brock received $1, in Food Stamp benefits and $1,426,34 in temporary assistance from the Department of Social Services without notifying officials that she was a fugitive from justice. Montgomery County Cora Lee Clavel of St. Johnsville, Paul McDonald of Amsterdam, and Mona (Cleary) Ryerson of Fort Plain, were all arrested for welfare fraud. Clavel was charged with welfare fraud in the 3rd degree after she fraudulently received $3,156 in benefits that she wasn t entitled to, and failed to report income as a private duty nurse. McDonald was charged with two counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the 1st degree and one count of welfare fraud in the 4th degree. He received $1,508 in benefits that he wasn t entitled to because he failed to report unemployment benefits. Ryerson was charged with stealing $ after she failed to report that she was previously sanctioned for an intentional program violation in Orange County. Nassau County A Valley Stream couple whose son was previously charged with voter fraud was arrested on grand larceny and welfare fraud charges because they reported income drastically lower than

3 NYWFIA News Page 3 they had earned so they could receive Medicaid benefits over several years. Ashraf and Farina Insanally were arrested on charges of third-degree grand larceny and third-degree welfare fraud, both felonies. The couple filed an application and a recertification form in which they claimed that their weekly income was $300. In reality, the couple made deposits totaling $388, into two personal bank accounts while collecting Medicaid. Their legal troubles came to light a day after their son, Imtiaz Insanally, a parttime clerk at the Nassau County Board of Elections, was charged with writing false addresses for petition signers in an independent nominating petition for a Tax Revolt Party candidate. New York City Five former Brooklyn residents were charged with welfare fraud and grand larceny after falsely claiming they still lived in the borough so that they could collect city Medicaid benefits for years. The two couples and one woman who collected a total of $114,000 in Medicaid benefits also hid ownership of homes and other assets on applications for Medicaid. One couple, Fouad Fouad, and his wife Nevertity Ibrahim, bought a home in Milltown, NJ and also had rental income from properties they owned in South Amboy, NJ. As a result the couple received $71,704 in Medicaid benefits to which they were not entitled. The other couple, Tau Sing Chow and Yue Hao Zhou collected $26,449 in Medicaid benefits for themselves and their two kids from 2006 until 2010 by falsely claiming they still lived in Bensonhurst after moving to Philadelphia in The other defendant, Reyes Lopez lives in a $400,000 home in Long Island, but falsely claimed to still be living in East Flatbush to collect $17,000 in Medicaid benefits for her family. Lopez also collects rental income from the Brooklyn home where she and her husband used to live. A city worker is accused of underreporting his income to illegally obtain almost $140,000 in Medicaid benefits for his family. Mohamed Mekki carried out the scheme over nearly seven years, between January 2004 and December of last year. Mekki worked for Metro Jewish Home Care, a city agency and also owned Magic Touch Physical Therapy in Brooklyn. Mekki earned about $50,000 a year from the city. He underreported his income, as well as his wife s, when applying for Medicaid and illegally received $139,749 in benefits for himself and his family. The case was investigated by the NYPD and the city Human Resources Administration Bureau of Fraud Investigation. Ontario County Regina M. Ranieri was charged with fourth-degree welfare fraud for allegedly failing to report to the Department of Social Services that her two children no longer live at her home. As a result, she received $2, in benefits that she was not entitled to. In another case, Robert A. DeFisher was arrested for allegedly failing to disclose income on a DSS public assistance recertification application. As a result, he received $1,561 in benefits he was not entitled to. Orleans County Orleans County taxpayers saved almost $2 million dollars in recouped funds from welfare fraud cost avoidance and recouped monies, according to members of the Department of Social Services, who addressed the Orleans County Legislature. Commissioner Tom Kuryla and Deputy Commissioner Holli Nenni are part of the welfare fraud unit at DSS. In 2009, the county saved about $39,000 in recouped funds and $352,000 in cost avoidance. A year later, the unit stepped up it efforts, raising its totals to $40,000 in recouped funds and $1,950,000 in cost avoidance. According to Kuryla, Marie Snyder is the leading force of the unit, assisting clients with HEAP, food stamps, Medicaid, day care costs and more. She also works closely with local law enforcement to investigate cases of fraud. Rockland County Eight people have been charged with felony counts of grand larceny as part of an investigation into welfare fraud in Rockland, officials said today. Investigators said that some of the suspects filed false applications while others either underreported their incomes or failed to report their employment. A total of $19,000 in public money was allegedly stolen. Members of the Rockland County Special Investigations Unit arrested the defendants over two days following a joint investigation with the Fraud Unit of the Department of Social Services. Saint Lawrence County Joel and Kim Gilbert have been charged with third-degree welfare fraud and first-degree offering a false instrument. The two were arrested because the Gilberts filed false and forged documents with Social Services between November 2007 and July 2009, resulting in the couple receiving $6, in food stamps and Medicaid benefits that they were not entitled to. Warren County A man and woman who were living together were charged this week with the theft of more than $175,000 in public assistance benefits over more than five years. Daniel B. Saville and Lisa Ireland was arraigned on one count of second-degree welfare fraud; 15 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument; and 24 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument. Her codefendant, Daniel Saville, was arraigned on one count of third-degree grand larceny; one count of third-degree welfare; and six counts of first-degree offering a false instrument. Ireland was living with Saville in his home while collecting rent subsidies to live at another property owned by Saville. In July 2010, the pair was charged with third-degree welfare fraud, third-degree grand larceny and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing in connection with the reported theft by fraud of more than $33,000 in U.S. Department of Housing and

4 NYWFIA News Urban Development funds they weren t entitled to. The investigation was conducted by Warren County Sheriff s Office investigator Kevin Conine, Lt. C. Shawn Lamouree, Warren County Social Service investigators Lisa Zulauf and Elizabeth Burke and the Warren County District Attorney s Office. A Glens Falls man was jailed Monday on charges he defrauded Medicaid, his second public assistance fraud arrest in eleven years. Alden Barrett allegedly received $6,161 in Medicaid benefits to which he was not entitled by not claiming all of his household income. Barrett was also arrested in 2000 after he received more than $1,200 in food stamps and welfare payments to which he was not entitled. Barrett also has at least two prior sodomy convictions for sexual assault arrests that occurred in 1991, the latter of which involved sexual contact with a 16-year-old boy when Barrett was 35. Sheriff s Investigator Kevin Conine and Investigator Glenn Trackey from the county Department of Social Services handled the recent investigation. The owners of a Route 9 motel were charged with several felonies Monday in connection with allegations of Medicaid fraud. Farrukh and Anjum Naqvi each face felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing and grand larceny, and misdemeanor counts of health care fraud. They own and operate Alpenhaus Motel. They are accused of failing to accurately report their household income on at least three occasions in order to receive $19,355 in Medicaid benefits to which they were not entitled. Sheriff s Investigator Kevin Conine and Investigator Elizabeth Burke from the county Department of Social Services handled the case. Wyoming County Following an investigation at the Wyoming County Department of Social Services, Renata Miller was charged with fourth-degree welfare fraud and two counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. Bliss allegedly failed to report income on her applications for public assistance that allowed her to receive benefits that she otherwise would not have been entitled to. The case was investigated by DSS Fraud Investigator Judith Garner, who was assisted by Wyoming County Sheriff s Investigator Jason Mayer. In an unrelated case, Brady Stoffer used Medicaid benefits for personal gain, said county DSS Fraud Investigator Judith Gardner. He was charged with fourth-degree welfare fraud. Wyoming County Sheriff s Investigator Jason Mayer assisted the investigation. Legal Briefs By Andrew Weiss, Esq., NYWFIA Second Vice President Elections and NYWFIA s Future As you are reading this, we are only a few weeks away from our 28 th Annual Training Seminar to be held in Albany. Other parts of this newsletter told you about the diverse and quality sessions that are on this year s agenda. For now, I would like to focus on our Annual Business Meeting. This year is a unique time in NYWFIA s history. The current President, Second Vice President, and Treasurer are not seeking reelection. Therefore, this year s Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday June 14 is more critical than ever because almost half of the Executive Board will be replaced. Now is the time for anyone who has ever thought about getting involved to jump in! It is also critical that every member attend the Business Meeting and participate in the voting process because this meeting, more than ever, will determine the future of NYWFIA. Because of the unusually high number of Board seats that will be vacant, this article will discuss the nomination and ballot process for the Business Meeting. As in years past, all nominations start by writing a member s name on the nomination form in your registration packet and submitting the form in the box that will be set up. Page 4 Nominations close at 5:00 on Monday June 13. Remember, the practice is that there are no nominations from the floor during the Business meeting. Therefore, if you know someone who wants to serve on the Board, it is critical that you submit that person s name by the close of Monday s business. Once all nomination forms are collected, each nominee will be asked whether that person is interested in running for the nominated position. In the case of someone who is nominated for multiple positions, our election process requires that the person choose a single position to run for; our election process does not allow a person to run for multiple positions in the same election. Once the nominated people have been spoken with and they showed an interest in running for election, their names will be announced at the Business Meeting on Tuesday morning. In keeping with our election process, in the event of a contested election, voting will be done by writing the candidate s name on a paper ballot form, which will handed out. After the voting is done for each Board position, the paper ballots will be collected and tallied to determine the winner for each contested Board position. The winners will be announced just before the start of the Mock Trial session at 3:00 Tuesday afternoon. This voting process will not be necessary for those positions that are unopposed. For unopposed races, a voice vote can be used and the winner declared at the Business Meeting. The elections for the regional representatives will happen as they always have, by breaking into groups by Region and each Region holding its own nominations and election. As you can see, it is more important than ever that you personally come to the Annual Business Meeting. We are at a crossroads with our Association and we need every member to help decide our Association s future.

5 NYWFIA News Page Spotlight on Success By James D. Dadamio, President As our Annual Training Seminar is quickly approaching, it is always good to stop and remind ourselves why the Seminar is so important. Being away from the office for a few days may seem like a burden especially when thinking about what is waiting when we get home but it really is time well spent. It is critical that we meet each year to share our expertise and experiences with each other, attend the training sessions, and go home a bit better equipped to handle the challenges we face. The following is an illustration of how the partnerships we build at our Seminars can produce real results. In September 2010, the federal Government Accountability Office reported on the results of a sting operation it conducted in six states with large child day care subsidy programs, including New York. A federal employee posed as a parent requesting assistance paying for child care. Not only did local county workers in New York and Michigan, Texas, Oregon, and Washington authorize child care benefits for this bogus parent, but they also issued payment checks to a fictitious child care provider. The sixth state that was targeted Illinois didn t fall for the scam. We in the fraud arena are well aware of the numerous scams against the various benefit programs in New York State and specifically we as an Association have identified numerous examples of scams targeting the child care program. For example, last October, a home-based child care provider in Buffalo was found guilty of grand larceny after improperly billing the county for child care services that was not provided. Last August, eleven individuals in New York City, including seven New York City public agency employees, were charged with operating a subsidy fraud and bribery operation involving as many as 41 child care providers and the use of over $18 million of child care subsidy funds. In response to these and other similar issues, OCFS has joined us and our other partners at OTDA in an effort to promote integrity in the subsidy programs through rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. Through these partnerships, you the membership have been a wealth of knowledge and your ideas have been heard! On October 27, 2010 OCFS hosted a summit, Making Every Dollar Count, during which DSS staff, program people, investigators and prosecutors, and others involved in administering the child care programs came together and shared ideas for detecting and preventing fraud in our child care programs. I am proud to have been a part of the summit and to have seen several other NYWFIA members in attendance offering their expertise. I also recently participated with OCFS staff on a panel session at the winter meeting of the New York Public Welfare Association. During this session OCFS staff described their efforts to detect and prevent child care subsidy fraud, including new regulations aimed at assisting local districts in dismissing suspicious claims, a series of red flag reports evaluating submitted billings, and reaching out to other State agencies regarding the use of shared databases and other technology, all in an effort to improve and enhance bringing suspicious claims to light. As a panelist, I was able to share with the audience our experiences in fighting fraud and again reaffirmed NYWFIA s commitment of a teamwork approach by our continuous efforts in fostering relationships between DSS staffs in local offices, and between the counties and our State partners. Again, many of the fraud fighting efforts and ideas being undertaken were generated from and are a direct result of the partnership forged between our groups. Our ideas, our expertise, and our solutions have made a real impact in aiding in the protection of the valuable child care resources for all New Yorkers and I encourage each of you to continue in these valuable exercises.

6 NYWFIA News Page 5 New York Welfare Fraud Investigators Association Executive Board President, James D. Dadamio 1st Vice President, John Melville 2nd Vice President, Andrew Weiss 3rd Vice President, Tom Ryan Recording Secretary, Diana Ruiz-Maldonado Corresponding Secretary, Regina Williams Treasurer, Laurie Fregeau Regional Representatives Region One Niagara, Orleans, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties Mindy Herman, Marie Snyder Region Two Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Steuben, Schuyler and Chemung Counties Debbie Stanford, Fred Buck Region Three St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida, Herkimer, Onondaga, Madison, Cayuga, Tompkins, Cortland, Chenango, Tioga and Broome Counties Dan McCann, Mark Wierzbicki Region Four Franklin, Clinton, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Fulton, Montgomery, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Albany, Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, Greene and Columbia Counties Paula Reed, Neil Mahoney Region Five Sullivan, Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Queens, Kings, New York and Richmond Counties Eugene Cialini, Ilene Reff New York State Welfare Fraud Investigators Association PO Box 165 Ballston Spa, New York 12020