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TALLAHASSEE - The president of a Winter Garden medical equipment company has been charged by the Florida Attorney General's office for defrauding the Florida Medicaid program.
Alexis Vincent Robinson, president of A&S Respiratory Home Medical Inc., in Winter Garden, is accused of stealing more than $500,000 from the state's Medicaid program in a scheme that included the fraudulent use of the identities of numerous Medicaid recipients.
An investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit revealed that Robinson was responsible for submitting close to 1,600 fraudulent Medicaid claims between Jan. 1, 2001, and Aug. 31, 2003. Robinson filed the claims in the names of Medicaid recipients without their knowledge, seeking reimbursement for durable medical equipment that the patients never received and in most cases did not request. Durable medical equipment is medical equipment that can withstand repeated use, is primarily and customarily used to serve a medical purpose and is appropriate for use in the patient's home.
"Medicaid was created to help those in need with their medical expenses, not to provide con artists with the means to get rich on the taxpayer's dime," said AG Charlie Crist. "We will continue to aggressively pursue thieves who steal taxpayer dollars designed to help the disabled and those with limited means."
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution. Robinson is charged with one count of organized fraud and two counts of criminal use of personal identification information. If convicted on each count as charged, he faces up to 75 years in prison and fines of $30,000, plus restitution to the Medicaid program.
Since 2003, the investigative and prosecution efforts of the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit have resulted in 212 criminal convictions of individuals or entities charged in state and/or federal courts with defrauding the state's Medicaid program. During the same period of time, the unit has recovered an excess of $139.3 million on behalf of the Florida Medicaid program.
A copy of the arrest affidavit is available at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6J5JKX/$file/Robinson_Affidavit.pdf 11-18-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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