NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The owner of a Bronx health care clinic has been accused of pocketing more than $4 million in a scheme that involved tricking Medicaid recipients into handing over their personal info so it could be used to file false claims for customized back braces.
Attorney General Letitia James’s office announced the charges against Leslie Montgomery, 49, on Friday.
Montgomery is accused of advertising a housing assistance program online to lure Medicaid recipients to her clinic, the Healthy Living Community Center.
The Medicaid recipients had to divulge personal Medicaid info in order to “qualify for the program,” according to prosecutors, who said there was no legitimate housing assistance program or housing provided to the victims.
Instead, Montgomery allegedly stole their personal info to submit false claims to Medicaid for highly specialized, custom-molded back braces.
According to prosecutors, “almost every single Health Living recipient had back braces billed in their name,” while none of them actually received the devices.
Montgomery would sometimes have a $20 “off-the-shelf” back brace mailed directly to recipients from Amazon, but she would often send nothing at all, according to prosecutors.
All the while, Montgomery was billing Medicaid between $750 and $1,550 per back brace, prosecutors said.
The Attorney General’s Office said claims submitted by Montgomery and Healthy Living show Medicaid-funded MCOs like MetroPlus paid more than $4 million to Montgomery directly or through the clinic.
“Using affordable housing as a pretense for Medicaid theft is reprehensible,” Attorney General James said in a statement.
Montgomery was arraigned Friday in New York City Criminal Court in the Bronx. She was charged with first-degree grand larceny and first-degree identity theft, both felonies.
She was released under the conditions that she surrenders her passport, waives extradition, and restricts travel to within New York state.