Two charged with Medicaid fraud scheme involving bogus trips: AG

FLORIDA — Two Seminole County residents have been charged with Medicaid fraud.

Attorney General (AG) Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), with the assistance of the Oviedo Police Department, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, Orlando Police Department, and the United States Customs and Border Protection, announced the arrest of Debora Behnke and Suman Bhattacharjee for a Medicaid fraud scheme that reportedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Behnke and Bhattacharjee ran Pioneer Medical Transportation LLC and allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for nonemergency medical transportation for Medicaid recipients, reportedly stealing more than $250,000 from the Medicaid program.

“Conspiring together, these individuals defrauded Medicaid out of more than $250,000,” said AG Moody.

“Instead of transporting vulnerable Medicaid recipients, these individuals falsely billed the taxpayer-funded program for services never completed. In some instances, they even convinced patients to move across the state—with no regard for the best interest of the patients—and still charged Medicaid for transporting them from the original, longer distance.”

According to an MFCU investigation, Behnke and Bhattacharjee regularly billed for trips that did not take place. Additionally, their scheme allegedly involved signing up vulnerable Medicaid recipients for daily trips across the state in exchange for small but regular payments without regard for the recipient’s best interest.

Behnke and Bhattacharjee are accused of then encouraging the recipients to move from coastal-area homes to the Orlando and Kissimmee regions. Reportedly, to maximize profits, Pioneer Medical Transportation billed for the original, longer round trips more frequently than it provided services.

Behnke and Bhattacharjee each face one count of Medicaid provider fraud and one count of scheme to defraud, both first-degree felonies.

The State Attorney’s Office in the 18th Judicial Circuit will prosecute this case.