West Hartford Woman Sentenced For Medicaid Fraud: State

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A local woman was sentenced to prison Wednesday for submitting fake claims to receive Medicaid benefits she wasn't entitled to.

Lorena Soto-Bunker, 49, of Seneca Road, West Hartford, and owner of Where Healing Begins, was sentenced in Hartford Superior Court to two years in prison, execution of that time suspended, with five years of conditional discharge.

The sentence means she could receive a much lesser stint of prison time if she abides by certain conditions, one of which is she is not to serve as a provider in the Medicaid program.

Soto-Bunker, pleaded nolo contendere and was convicted of health insurance fraud, a class B felony.

According to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice, the investigation was carried out by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney of Soto-Bunker and Alicia Thompkins, a co-defendant in the case.

It showed, that between September 2018 and September 2019, Soto-Bunker was not a licensed behavioral health therapist when she was working for Collaborative Counseling Center, LLC, a company that was owned and operated by Thompkins.

Soto-Bunker reported she was performing counseling services for the Collaborative Counseling Center, state officials said.

Thompkins submitted the billings to Medicaid as if she performed licensed qualified sessions, state officials said.

Evidence acquired through investigation showed Soto-Bunker was not meeting with clients as she reported but was submitting claims to Thompkins.

According to authorities, she caused those false claims to be billed and paid by the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program for $19,785.75.

Thompkins was convicted in 2023 of health insurance fraud for her role in submitting the unlicensed, unsupervised, unqualified services purportedly performed.

Following a judge’s order, Thompkins paid $140,000 in restitution for submitting the billings for services provided by unlicensed people as well as for unrendered services, officials said.

Soto-Bunker caused the submission of claims to the Department of Social Services, which contained false, incomplete, deceptive, or misleading information.

By being found guilty of a program-related felony, the defendant is also subject to mandatory exclusion as a health-care provider to certain federally funded health programs, according to state officials.

Medicaid is a government program that provides health coverage to low-income, disabled, and elderly individuals and is financed by both the federal and state governments.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

For more information on the case and the sentencing announcement, click on this link.