Carolyn Calderaro Allegedly Submitted False Claims to Medicaid for Services Not Provided, Received Over $3K in Payments
Schneiderman: We Will Fight to Hold Medical Professionals Who Defraud Medicaid Accountable
PLATTSBURGH – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the arrest of Carolyn Calderaro, 50, a Registered Nurse (RN) from Chazy, on charges that she submitted false claims to Medicaid claiming she provided in-home care to a Medicaid recipient on life support when she did not provide said services and, as a result, received over three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) in Medicaid payments.
“My office will not tolerate the abuse of the Medicaid program by its providers,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “We will keep working to ensure that medical professionals who exploit their patients in an effort to defraud Medicaid are punished to the fullest extent.”
Carolyn Calderaro was employed as a private duty nurse providing care to a 25-year-old Medicaid recipient on life support in the recipient’s home. The felony complaint alleges that from on or about July through December 2012, Calderaro submitted twelve (12) claims to Medicaid, each claim containing multiple dates of service, stating that she provided private duty nursing care to the recipient which she did not actually provide. Medicaid paid Calderaro for all of her claims.
According to the felony complaint, Calderaro’s conduct was discovered when another private duty nurse was denied reimbursement from Medicaid for care that she provided to the recipient as a result of an overlapping claim submitted by Calderaro. According to the co-worker, Calderaro offered to repay her for the overlapping hours and issued a personal check to her. Thereafter, the recipient’s mother discovered numerous dates of services that defendant Calderaro billed Medicaid for care that she did not provide. Further investigation by MFCU revealed that Calderaro submitted claims over several months that encompassed forty-eight (48) separate dates of service for which Calderaro received thousands of dollars from Medicaid.
Calderaro was arraigned in Plattsburgh Town Court before the Honorable James D. Joyce and charged with twelve counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, class E Felonies, and one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class D Felony. Calderaro faces up to 7 years in state prison.
The charges against the defendant are accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Attorney General Schneiderman thanks the NYS Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) for its assistance in this investigation.
The case was investigated by Investigator Danette Benson, with the assistance of Supervising Investigator Dianne Tuffey and Upstate Deputy Chief Investigator William Falk.
The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Erin Lynch of the Albany Regional Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office of the Attorney General, with the assistance of Albany Regional Director Kathleen A. Boland. Catherine Wagner is MFCU's Upstate Chief of Criminal Investigations. Amy Held is the Acting Director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Paul J. Mahoney is the Assistant Deputy Attorney General and Kelly Donovan is the Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice. The investigation was conducted with the assistance of the NYS Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.