September 08, 2008 08:51 am
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By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer
A Corbin man was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty Friday in Franklin County Circuit Court to fraud.
Robert Carter, who owned several health care clinics in the towns of Manchester, Williamsburg, Corbin, Gray and Lexington, pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud. According to a release from the Attorney General’s Office, from August 2002 to June 2004, Carter made more than $40,000 in fraudulent claims to the Kentucky Medicaid Assistance Program.
The Office of the Attorney General began investigating Carter after receiving an anonymous tip. What investigators found was that Carter had submitted claims for Medicaid reimbursement of office visits, when these visits never actually occurred due to patients missing the appointments.
Although multiple false claims were submitted, Allison Martin, communications director for the Office of the Attorney General, said Carter’s plea is for all the incidences.
“This charge includes all of those incidences,” she said. “This plea took care of multiple incidences.”
According to the Franklin County Circuit Clerk’s office, it was also part of Carter’s plea agreement to waive his right to counsel and the presentence report and enter into formal sentencing.
“The sentence was part of the plea,” Martin said.
Carter was sentenced to three years in prison for his plea Friday, which will run concurrently with jail time Carter is already serving in Marion County from two unrelated theft cases from Whitley County.
The Office of the Attorney General urges anyone with information about Medicaid Fraud or abuse to contact their tip line at 1-877-228-7384.
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