WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Former New Hanover County social worker Felicia Moore Jones was sentenced for conspiring to defraud NC Medicaid on Monday, June 17.
Jones was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison and then three years of supervised release, along with paying $400,000 in restitution.
She pleaded guilty to the chargeback on Jan. 24.
Per U.S. Attorney Michael Easley, over $400,000 in fraudulent billing took place as a result of the scheme.
“Ms. Jones’ was a social worker who was supposed to help poor Medicaid recipients get healthcare. Instead, she stole and sold their identifying information in a scheme to bill taxpayers for care that was never provided,” said Easley. “We are fortunate to live in a generous country, where we are proud to help the less advantaged through programs like Medicaid. But we will find and prosecute anyone who abuses that generosity for their own profit.”
Citing the filed charge and information summarized in court, the announcement says Jones worked with a licensed mental health counselor Lakia Washington on the scheme.
“Jones used her government employment to obtain personally identifying information (PII) of New Hanover County residents enrolled in Medicaid, including their Medicaid ID numbers. In exchange for an agreed-upon fee per beneficiary, Jones then provided the PII to Washington, knowing it would be used to generate fraudulent claims for services never rendered,” the announcement states.
Over $400,000 of the fraudulent billing has been attributed by investigators to the beneficiary’s personal identifying information provided to Washington.
Washington pleaded guilty late last year in the case and is yet to be sentenced. The investigation did not find any out-of-pocket costs that were suffered by people whose identities were used in the scheme.
“Government employees are supposed to be responsible stewards of our personal and health data, not steal it for their own profit,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “I’m grateful to my Medicaid Investigations Division and our federal partners for their work to protect taxpayer resources and patient information.”
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