Newington Man/Nursing Home Administrator Sentenced To Prison: State

Information via the CT Division of Criminal Justice:

NEWINGTON/MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Newington man convicted of financially exploiting an elderly resident was sentenced to prison Tuesday in Middletown Superior Court, officials said in a news release.

Judge Julia DiCocco Dewey sentenced Ryan Turko, 42, of Newington, to five years in prison, execution suspended after nine months served, with five years of probation, the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said in a release Tuesday.

Turko was ordered not to act as a Medicaid provider and not to work in any facility where the elderly or disabled are being cared for, as well as any facility that receives funding from Medicaid.

He was also ordered substance abuse evaluation and treatment as deemed necessary and to perform 50 hours of community service. Turko previously refunded $15,778.43 to the victim.

Turko pleaded guilty to second-degree larceny and first-degree identity theft.

An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney determined Turko, the former business manager for Portland Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Portland, also known as PCRC, improperly accessed an elderly resident’s bank account and made online withdrawals and transfers and wrote checks to himself without permission between September 2020 and February 2021, officials said.

PCRC is a facility that accepts Medicaid monies on behalf of clients for services and the amount taken totaled $15,778.43.

Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public healthcare system is asked to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office at 860-258-5986.

For more information on the sentencing, click on this link.