Maryland Woman Sentenced to 13 Months in Prison After $370,000 Medicaid Fraud
A Maryland woman was sentenced to 13 months behind bars after she pled guilty to defrauding the D.C. Medicaid program of over $370,000. Folashade Adufe Horne, 52, is from Laurel, Maryland, and is accused of illegally obtaining Medicaid payments through falsified timesheets while working with Medicaid beneficiaries. Horne is one of several individuals accused of fraudulently peddling money from the D.C. Medicaid program.
According to the Department of Justice, Horne began her fraudulent scheme at the start of 2014, and her antics spanned through June 2020. During this time, Horne worked as a personal care aide for four different home health agencies. As a personal care aide, Honre worked with individuals who receive Medicaid benefits. As part of her job duties, Horne would fill out timesheets documenting the different types of services she rendered.
Last week, Horne was sentenced to 13 years behind bars after she pled guilty to submitting timesheets that documented work she rendered to her patients when in fact, she never rendered those services. Between 2014 and 2020, Horne would document these fictitious services and turn the timesheets into the home health agencies she worked for. Those agencies would then send those bills to the D.C. Medicaid program which gave out the payments to Horne. In total, the D.C. Medicaid Program paid out $373,564 to Horne.
The services that Horne would document on the timesheets were typically services that a personal care aide would assist in, including helping patients bathe, get in and out of bed, eat, get dressed, and other daily functions. Horne would document all types of services performed and filed timesheets that documented an intense workload. The DOJ explains that in 2014, Horne documented 204 instances of falsified services rendered with each day documenting at least 20 hours of work as a personal care aide. In one instance, Horne documented 28 days in which she provided 32 hours of services rendered. The DOJ also shared that Horne filed timesheets for services she provided during periods where she was not even in the United States.
Horne also worked a full-time job at Howard University Hospital. While she was at her full-time job, Horne would fill out timesheets for providing services as a personal care aide as well.
Horne was arrested in June 2020 along with another individual who perpetrated the same crime. Sikirat Adunni Brown, 58, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was arrested for defrauding the D.C. Medicaid program in the same manner Horne did, according to the DOJ. Much like Horne, Brown began her fraudulent behavior between November 2014 and October 2015. During this time, Brown documented that she offered services that were anywhere between 20 and 38 hours of work a day in at least 335 instances. In one instance the DOJ explains that Brown “asserted that she provided 176 hours of services during a seven-day period even though there are only 168 hours in a week.”
Horne pled guilty to health care fraud in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February. Judge Reggie B. Walton presided over her plea hearing and handed down the 13-month sentence. As part of her sentence, Horne will need to pay back $373,564 in restitution as well as a $267,567 forfeiture money judgment.
