Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Office manager pocketed funds
Admits $76,455 in unreported income
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — As the former office manager for a Bellevue-based medical office, Robert Carabella pocketed business funds to pay for his personal expenses, according to documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
Mr. Carabella waived a formal indictment in federal court and pled guilty to charges that his 1996 personal income tax return had $76,455 in unreported income and that he submitted false Medicaid claims while treasurer, billing manager and office manager for Forest Hills Neuropsychiatric Services Inc., between May 1994 and April 1997.
He will face eight years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced July 27 on the federal charges.
He already faced one to five years in prison after pleading guilty in Campbell Circuit Court to a count of presenting fraudulent claims to Kentucky Medicaid valued over $300.
In those proceedings, he admitted to billing Kentucky's Medicaid Program for tests, appointments and consultations that never happened in the same period.
An allegation of Medicaid fraud made by the state against Mr. Carabella's ex-wife, psychiatrist Denise Perone, has been dismissed with the understanding that she'll pay back $118,000 to the Kentucky Medicaid program. She was chief executive officer of Forest Hills while Mr. Carabella worked there.
Federal documents filed Monday indicate that Mr. Carabella was prone to “up coding” claims. That means he would submit claims for more expensive services than the ones that actually were provided.
For example, both federal and state documents say he submitted claims for physician services when those services were actually performed by social workers.
The federal documents also indicate that Mr. Carabella routinely pocketed a daily average of $125 during 1995 and 1996.
The money was from patients trying to make co-payments and account payments, the documents stated.
Regarding the $76,455 in unreported income, federal documents state that Dr. Perone was not aware of her then-husband's wrongdoings.
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