Sentencing in Medicaid Fraud Case at MYPO Mental Health Clinic

From a press release by the Masrlyland Attorney General, as reported on South Maryland Online

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Angelo Reynolds, 39, of the 8400 block of Pattette Place in White Plains, has been sentenced to five years incarceration with all but one year suspended, and to be served in home detention. The sentence comes after Reynolds pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to one count of felony Medicaid fraud for his role in defrauding the Medicaid program of at least $150,000. The Honorable John M. Glynn also ordered Reynolds to pay restitution of $150,000 over the course of five years of supervised probation.

Reynolds, who holds a PhD in Education and is a former police officer, was the owner of MYPO, Inc, a mental health clinic that had its principal office at 1600 Calvert Street in Baltimore City. From November, 2003, through June, 2004, Reynolds’ company billed Medicaid $496,000 for mental health therapy sessions it claimed had been provided to residents of Baltimore City and Prince Georges County. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General revealed that throughout the seven month period, MYPO billed for multiple therapy sessions before anyone from the company had met with the patient. Additionally, company documents showed that Reynolds’ company billed for having treated patients during time periods when no therapist was even assigned to the individual seeking therapy.

MYPO received the vast majority of its patients as a result of referrals from The Bridges Project, LLC, a provider of unskilled counseling services to eligible Medicaid recipients, mostly children, in the Baltimore area. Prior to referring patients to MYPO, Bridges had been referring patients to Dr. James An Nguyen, a psychiatrist. Dr. Nguyen pled guilty in 2005 to defrauding Medicaid of $340,000 and received a sentence that included 18 months incarceration. Two of the owners of Bridges, Guy Bell and Robin Carroll-El, have been charged with felony Medicaid fraud and theft of as much as four million dollars in and are scheduled to go to trial in Baltimore Circuit Court on May 16, 2007.

The case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. The MFCU conducted the investigation with assistance from the Mental Hygiene Administration (MHA), which suspended payments to MYPO in June of 2004. MHA has been working with the MFCU to root out fraud in its programs, and several cases of fraudulent behavior by MHA providers have been successfully prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office. In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Gansler thanked Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstock for his work on the case.