Personal Assistant And Beneficiary Sentenced For Fraud On The Medicaid Home Services Program

On May 21, 2013, Daniel Geary, 39, of Caseyville, IL, was sentenced in District Court in East St. Louis, IL, on one count of False Statement related to Health Care Matters, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.

Having been confined in county jail for four months, Daniel Geary was sentenced to time served, three (3) years of supervised release, a special assessment of $100, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $420 to the State of Illinois and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. On the same offense on April 1, 2013, Cynthia Harmon, age 40, of Alton, IL also had been sentenced to time served, two (2) years of supervised release, a special assessment of $100, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $420. Daniel Geary and Cynthia Harmon, personal assistant and beneficiary, previously pled guilty to defrauding the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) Home Services Program, a Medicaid Waiver Program intended to prevent the unnecessary institutionalization of Medicaid beneficiaries who may be satisfactorily maintained at home. Both admitted to making a materially false statement in connection with the delivery of health care services by reporting on a Home Services Time Sheet sent to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Rehabilitation Services, that Daniel Geary performed 44.5 hours of personal assistant work for Cynthia Harmon from February16 through March 15, 2012, even though each defendant knew that, because Harmon was incarcerated in the St. Louis County jail, the personal assistant services were not performed.

The case was investigated by agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau (MFCB). This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Jude Quinley.