North Haven Dentist Rejects Plea Deal In $200K Fraud Case: Report

NORTH HAVEN, CT — A North Haven dentist accused of defrauding Medicaid by more than $200,000 faces a possible trial after rejecting a plea bargain offer that didn’t require prison time, according to the New Haven Register.

Christian O’Connor, of Hamden, was arrested in August 2021 and charged with first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community and health insurance fraud. He is accused of defrauding Medicaid by billing the government health care program more than $200,000 for services he didn’t perform, according to officials.

The Register reports the rejected plea deal would have put O’Connor on probation for three years, with the possibility of up to five years in prison if the terms were violated, and required up front repayment of the more than $200,000.

The judge warned O’Connor that he faces a “significant prison sentence” if found guilty of the charges at a trial, according to the Register.

O’Connor, the sole owner and principal of Renew Dental, is accused of submitting $200,484 in false claims to Medicaid between July 2016 and March 2021 for dental work that wasn’t performed, according to authorities.

“The submission of claims to the Department of Social Services provided by O’Connor contained false, incomplete, deceptive or misleading information which constitutes the crime of Health Insurance Fraud,” officials wrote in a news release at the time of his arrest.

Read more at the New Haven Register here.