Two employees of a Little Rock counseling service paid restitution and were fined $600 each after pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Monday.
Pulaski County District Judge Wayne Gruber also ordered DeAndre Taybore, 32, of Desoto, Texas, and Myron Thrash, 36, of Mabelvale to each serve a year of probation, Rutledge said in a news release.
According to affidavits by Rhonda Swindle, an investigator with the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Taybore and Thrash each billed the state Medicaid program for services they did not provide while they were employed as mental health paraprofessionals for New Beginnings Behavioral Health Services.
For instance, Swindle wrote, Taybore routinely reported working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on days when he had actually stopped working at 5 p.m.
Swindle also found numerous instances in which Taybore and Thrash used debit cards at stores during times they reported they were providing services to clients.
Both men were arrested in October on felony Medicaid-fraud charges. They pleaded guilty to misdemeanors under plea agreements, Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere said.
Taybore, who paid $1,242 in restitution, entered his plea on Jan. 28, and Thrash, who paid $846 in restitution, entered his on Feb. 1, Deere said.
Metro on 02/09/2016