New Haven Woman Charged With Medicaid Fraud

NEW HAVEN, CT — A New Haven woman has been charged with bilking Medicaid out of thousands of dollars, according to a state Division of Criminal Justice statement. Ethel Bethea, 56, of Rosette Street, is accused of filing bogus claims including billing the government health program for services to patients who were deceased or in the hospital or jail.

Bethea is also accused of declaring that she had no income and collecting Medicaid benefits for herself when she was, in fact, billing the program for services she claimed to provide to others.

She was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging her with one count each of first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community and health insurance fraud, and fifteen counts of third-degree identity theft, according to the statement.

The arrest warrant affidavit states that Bethea is a previously convicted felon and a licensed drug and alcohol counselor. She was enrolled as a provider in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP), but An audit by the Department of Social Services found numerous billing irregularities which were reported to the MFCU for additional investigation.

The investigation found that Bethea billed Medicaid for 10 patients who were hospitalized at the time she claimed to be counseling them in her office, for a patient who had died in a motor vehicle accident and another patient who was in jail on the dates she allegedly provided counseling, according to the statement.

The warrant also cites claims for people who could not even identify a photograph of Bethea and billings for services she claimed to have provided when she was actually on a cruise ship to the Bahamas.

The disputed claims totaled more than $101,000 over an 11-month period, the warrant states.

Additionally, Bethea, who claimed to have no income, enrolled as a Medicaid recipient and received more than $13,000 in personal medical services paid for by Medicaid.

She was released on a $150,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 6.