West Hartford Woman Charged With Defrauding Medicaid

Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A West Hartford woman has been arrested and charged with submitting false claims to the Connecticut Medicaid Health Insurance Program.

Lorena Soto-Bunker, 48, of Seneca Road, West Hartford, was arrested Wednesday by Inspectors from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, and charged with one count of health insurance fraud.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, between September 2018 and September 2019, Soto-Bunker was not a licensed behavioral health therapist.

Despite that, state officials said she worked for Collaborative Counseling Center, LLC, a company that was owned and operated by Alicia Thompkins.

Soto-Bunker was reporting she was performing counseling services to her employer, Thompkins, state officials said.

But, authorities said, Thompkins was billing Medicaid as if she herself performed licensed qualified sessions.

Authorities said evidence showed Soto-Bunker was not meeting with clients as reported, but was submitting claims to Thompkins.

She caused those false claims to be billed and paid by the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program in the amount of $19,785.75, state officials said.

Thompkins has since pleaded guilty to health insurance fraud for her role in submitting the unlicensed, unsupervised, unqualified services purportedly performed, and has paid the restitution.

State investigators said Soto-Bunker caused the submission of claims to the Department of Social Services which contained false, incomplete, deceptive or misleading information which constitutes the crime of health insurance fraud.

Soto-Bunker was released on a $25,000 non-surety bond, and is scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court July 16.

The amount of the submissions, $19,785.75, constitutes health insurance fraud as a class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

For the full State Division of Criminal Justice statement on this case, click on this link.