LR woman gets 10 years for Medicaid fraud

A Little Rock woman accused of billing the state Medicaid program for more than $92,000 worth of speech-therapy services that were reportedly never provided pleaded no contest Thursday and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said.

Frenchelle Chapple, 62, appeared before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims on Thursday morning and pleaded no contest to felony Medicaid fraud and failure to maintain records, McDaniel said in a statement.

Chapple was sentenced to 10 years in prison, ordered to pay $92,606 in restitution and was fined $277,820, according to the statement.

Chapple, also known as Frenchelle Conley, operated the Great Expectations Developmental Center in Little Rock, which is accused of filing 1,063 fraudulent claims for services provided to Medicaid recipients under age 21, McDaniel said.

The company claimed the services were provided by three speech pathologists over several months in 2012 and 2013, but those individuals told investigators with the attorney general’s Medicaid fraud unit they did not provide speech therapy to Medicaid recipients during that period nor did they authorize the company to bill Medicaid on their behalf, McDaniel said.

Money paid for the false claims was deposited into an account that Chapple used to buy gas, fast food and clothing, according to the statement.

She was arrested in December 2013.

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