Businesswoman From Enfield Pleads Guilty To Committing Medicaid Fraud

HARTFORD, CT — The owner of an Enfield-based behavioral health clinician group charged in 2021 with defrauding Medicaid by billing for unlicensed and unrendered services over a four-year period entered a guilty plea Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court.

Marcy L. Taliceo, 49, pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community, a Class B felony. She was sentenced by Judge David P. Gold to four years in prison, with execution suspended, and five years' probation, according to information provided by the Connecticut Department of Criminal Justice (DCJ).

Taliceo s ordered to pay restitution totaling $148,576.65, and paid the first $10,000 at sentencing. She was also ordered not to act as a provider in the Medicaid program, according to the DCJ.

An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney determined Taliceo was president, treasurer and secretary of Growing Potential Services, a Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP) provider enrolled as a Behavioral Health Clinician Group. Between 2016 and 2020, she was billing the state Medicaid program for services done by unlicensed personnel and services that were never provided, according to the DCJ.

Taliceo was in charge of all aspects of the business, including what services were billed, the assignment of cases and the hiring and firing of personnel. She employed several individuals who were not licensed to provide psychotherapy services and billed to Medicaid for those services. She also billed for and was paid for services not provided, the DCJ reported.

The investigation found Growing Potential was paid by the Connecticut Medicaid Program for psychotherapy services by unlicensed individuals in the amount of $141,835.63. In addition, it received a total of $6,741.02 for services that were not rendered when either clients were hospitalized or when Taliceo was out of state, according to the DCJ.