Press Release
Operators of Cleveland Ambulette Company Charged with Health Care Fraud
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio
Three people were indicted on five counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with the operation a Cleveland-based ambulette company, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Indicted are Nedal "Mark" Hasan 45, of North Olmsted, Kim Gullie, 56, of Cleveland, and Nancy Pyles, 68, of Roanoke, Texas. Together they operated Eman Transportation Services in Cleveland.
Ambulette services contract with the Ohio Medicaid program to transport patients in vehicles known as ambulettes. An ambulette is a specially equipped van designed for wheelchair passengers. Medicaid pays ambulette operators for driving Medicaid patients to and from Medicaid-covered appointments, so long as: (1) the patient rides in a wheelchair; (2) a medical doctor certifies the need for the wheelchair and ambulette; and (3) the ambulette itself otherwise meets safety specifications.
The defendants are charged with scheming to defraud Medicaid of approximately $245,000 by charging Medicaid for rides of patients who did not use or need wheelchairs and for transporting Medicaid recipients to non-covered appointments.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of the federal sentencing guidelines and factors unique to each case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offenses and the characteristics of the violations.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Office of the Inspector General, United States Department of Health and Human Services. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Collyer and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Maritsa Flaherty, an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Updated March 16, 2015
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