In the famous movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy arrives in Oz and says, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” This statement has become an idiomatic expression that means you are no longer in a place of comfort. That is definitely the case for two Kansans who recently pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud.
Katherine Leah Bohanon, 35, of McPherson, was found guilty of one count of making a false claim to KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program. She was sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation and ordered to pay $12,167 in restitution. (She’s lucky she got such a lenient sentence.)
Bohannon submitted false claims between March 2018 and August 2019, stating that she was providing services for a minor child, but she was not. She was actually working as a para-professional at McPherson High School and billing Medicaid at the same time. (Hopefully she was not teaching them how to engage in illegal schemes.)
Another Medicaid fraudster, Zachary Xavier Grey, 33, was also found guilty of one count of making a false claim to KanCare and was sentenced to 24 months of supervised probation and ordered to pay $12,983 in restitution. (Bohannon was not the only one with the Medicaid fraud idea. Where there’s one fraudster, there’s always another one, or two, or more than a hundred.)
Grey filed his false Medicaid claims between April 2016 and August 2018 while working as a personal care assistant. Investigators discovered that we was not providing services in Dodge City as he documented, but was working and living elsewhere in the Kansas City area. (No surprise there.)
It’s always interesting how fraudsters, who submit false claims, think they will never be found out. That’s exactly why the Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division exists. While these two Kansans remain in the state, I’m pretty sure that they are uncomfortable with the idea that they are now considered criminals – a label that will stick with them for the rest of their lives, whether they are in Kansas, or not.
Today’s Fraud of the Day comes from the NBC KSN article “Two Kansans sentenced for Medicaid fraud,” on April 1, 2022.
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) — Two Kansans have been found guilty of Medicare fraud charges and will be required to pay over $25,000 in restitution for illegally used taxpayer funds.
35-year-old Katherine Leah Bohanon of McPherson was sentenced earlier this week in McPherson County District Court on one count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program. Bohanon was ordered to pay $12167 in restitution a sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation.
