Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and U.S. Attorney Scott Brady announced the first indictment in the Brighton nursing home investigation that began amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Charges against 60-year-old Susan Gilbert include conspiracy to defraud the United States, health care fraud and obstruction of a federal audit.
Gilbert is the former administrator of the Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, which is a sister nursing home to Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.
The indictment alleges that Gilbert told employees to falsify records to incorrectly show that the facility was in compliance with state and federal staffing requirements.
“These crimes put facility residents at risk by only providing a dangerously low amount of nursing staff just before COVID began to surge across the country,” said AG Shapiro. “By filing these false reports, the facility met minimum staffing levels only on paper — while Pennsylvanians who depended on them to care for their well-being didn’t have enough people to turn to. Our ongoing investigation will hold nursing and long-term care facilities criminally accountable wherever we find evidence someone neglected a resident.
“These criminal charges represent the first step in holding accountable those who put profit over the health and safety of seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Brady. “From 2018-2020, Gilbert and co-conspirators deprived seniors of patient care using inflated nursing hours, falsified timecards and other schemes that they concealed with two sets of records. We will continue to pursue every lead until justice has been achieved for seniors and their families in western Pennsylvania.”
Gilbert and others are accused of falsifying timecard record-keeping, allowing management staff to clock in for hours to be paid but not work those hours, keeping two sets of records regarding staff - one containing correct information and one containing false information and instructing staff to provide false documents to investigators.
If convicted, Gilbert could spend up to 10 years in prison or be required to pay a $250,000 fine or both.