Sunshine Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit today announced the arrest of Hillsborough County resident Caridad Abreu Gonzalez for Medicaid fraud. Abreu Gonzalez worked as a direct-service worker providing personal-support services to disabled adults under the Medicaid program. The investigation revealed that Abreu Gonzalez falsified time sheets and reported more than 800 hours of services never provided—causing more than $13,000 in overpayments. 

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This care provider unconscionably submitted false time sheets for support services for disabled adults, unjustly enriching herself for more than 800 hours of services never provided. Medicaid fraud not only hurts the Medicaid program, it steals from Florida taxpayers, and this defendant’s scheme caused more than $13,000 in overpayments from Medicaid.”  

An investigation by Attorney General Moody’s MFCU revealed that Abreu Gonzalez regularly provided personal-support services to multiple disabled adults, including one client functioning as a 3-year-old. Personal-support services help Medicaid recipients with daily activities, including eating, bathing, dressing, personal hygiene and more. The investigation revealed that instead of reporting an accurate count of hours to Medicaid under the group reimbursement rate, Abreu Gonzalez falsified hours both to bill the higher individual reimbursement rate and to inflate total hours worked. 

Abreu Gonzalez faces one count of Medicaid-provider fraud and one count of scheme to defraud, both third-degree felonies. The case will be prosecuted by Attorney General Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

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The Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes providers that intentionally defraud the state’s Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida’s taxpayers. From January 2019 to the present, Attorney General Moody’s MFCU has obtained more than $180 million in settlements and judgments.

The Florida MFCU is funded through a grant totaling $30,219,404 for Federal Fiscal Year 2023, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General. The Federal Share of these funds is 75% totaling $22,664,556. The State Matching Share of these funds is 25% totaling $7,554,848 and is funded by Florida.

Original source can be found here.