Private-Duty Nurse Faked Medicaid Claims for Severely Disabled Patients: NY AG

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY – A private-duty nurse is accused of submitting more than $390,000 in false Medicaid claims for services he did not provide to two people who need round-the-clock care. According to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, the patients who were victims along with the government were severely disabled clients in Peekskill and in New Rochelle. The AG announced the arrest and indictment of registered nurse Collins Anyanwu-Mueller of Bridgeport, CT on Monday.

Between August 2010 and January 2015, Anyanwu-Mueller allegedly submitted false medical claims regarding a number of instances, including when the clients were in the hospital, when another nurse provided care, when he was on vacation in Europe, when he was caring for another patient and for an extended period when he sent an unlicensed person to the recipient’s home but billed Medicaid as if he provided the care himself, prosecutors said.

“When healthcare professionals steal public funds, they undermine an important system that connects thousands of New Yorkers with necessary medical services,” Schneiderman said in the announcement. “My office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will continue to investigate cases involving fraud – and those who steal from Medicaid will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Anyanwu-Mueller was arraigned today in Westchester County Court in White Plains before the Honorable Larry J. Schwartz on an indictment charging him with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony carrying a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in state prison, and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony that carries a maximum sentence of up to four years in state prison.

If convicted, the 47-year-old faces up to 15 years in state prison.

Court papers filed by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit allege that Anyanwu-Mueller submitted claims for payment to Medicaid, in which he falsely purported to provide private-duty nursing services to two severely disabled Medicaid recipients who both required around-the-clock care at their respective homes located in New Rochelle and Peekskill, NY. Relying on the truthfulness and accuracy of his claims, which were uncovered as false during this investigation, Medicaid paid Anyanwu-Mueller over $390,000.

The judge set bail at $75,000 and scheduled Anyanwu-Mueller's next court appearance for July 11.

The Attorney General would like to thank the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General for referring this matter.

The investigation was conducted by MFCU Investigator Timothy Connolly and Principal Auditor Investigator Lora Pomponio with the assistance of Supervising Investigator Peter Markiewicz, Deputy Chief Investigator Kenneth Morgan and Regional Chief Auditor John Regan.

The criminal case is being prosecuted by Regional Director Anne Jardine. Thomas O’Hanlon is the MFCU’s Downstate Chief of Criminal Investigations. MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law