By Marc Kovac
The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The owners of a Columbus medical transportation company were each sentenced to 42 months behind bars after fraudulently billing the federal government for patient trips not eligible for reimbursement.
Jeralyn Dougherty, 67, of Dublin, and her son, Clint Green, 47, of Orient, also were ordered by Senior District Judge James L. Graham to pay more than $3.3 million in restitution to the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs and the Internal Revenue Service.
“Those who try to game the healthcare system will end up losing,” Attorney General Dave Yost, whose office was involved in the investigation, said in a released statement.
According to court documents, Dougherty and Green owned and operated Tritan EMS from offices on East 14th Avenue, providing medical transportation for patients.
Over a period of more than five years, Tritan billed the federal healthcare plans for services that were not eligible for reimbursement, including non-ambulance trips that were medically unnecessary, according to documents. Dougherty and Green also submitted fraudulent personal income tax returns, misrepresenting their income through Tritan.
Dougherty and Green pleaded guilty to single felony counts of healthcare fraud and tax fraud earlier this year and were formally sentenced Monday.
“Waste, fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry contributes to the rising cost of healthcare and degrades the integrity of our healthcare system,” William Cheung, acting special agent in charge at the Internal Revenue Service’s Cincinnati field office, said in a released statement.
“Fortunately, one of the government’s most powerful weapons is the ability to seize assets through the asset forfeiture program,” he said, “and in this case, the government has seized a significant portion of the healthcare fraud proceeds.”
———
©2019 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)