Severna Park woman pleads guilty to health care fraud
A Severna Park woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to health care fraud in federal, according to the U.S. Attorney?s Office.?
Virginia Acree, a state licensed clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing, billed $578,780 in mental health services she didn?t provide, federal prosecutors said.
Bills for service not rendered were sent to insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare for patients in Glen Burnie and Severna Park between January 2003 and November 2007.
Acree, 49, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at her Oct. 7 sentencing.
Woman gets 7 years for embezzlement
A Baltimore City woman was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday for embezzling more than $181,000 from a family-owned printing company in Columbia, according tothe Howard State?s Attorney?s Office.
Margie E. Matthews, 45, of 6th Street in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty March 13 to stealing $181,045.44 from Brown and Associates Inc., where she worked as a bookkeeper and receptionist for 19 years, according to court records.
Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman called the crime “insidious” when she delivered the sentence, said Senior Assistant State?s Attorney Lynn Marshall.
Marshall said Matthews virtually doubled her income from 2001 to 2006 from the scheme, according to the Howard State?s Attorney?s Office.
Matthews stole from her employer 114 times, through fraudulent checks she wrote to herself, with most checks written in the $1,000 to $3,000 range, according to court documents.
The judge also entered a civil judgment against Matthews, who has been free on $10,000 bond since her arrest.
