(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein announced today that Haydn Patrick Thomas of Durham was sentenced to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release in the Middle District of North Carolina and ordered to pay restitution in the amounts of $3,950,656 to the NC Fund for Medical Assistance and $518,997 to the IRS. Thomas pleaded guilty in September to one count of making a false statement relating to health care matters and one count of tax evasion.
“These individuals misused private patient data to cheat the Medicaid program and taxpayers,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “My office will continue to hold people responsible for healthcare fraud and abuse.”
Thomas worked as an oral surgeon’s practice manager and assisted another oral surgeon with claims submissions. He shared the oral surgeons’ patient names and Medicaid identification numbers with Catinia Farrington, who owned Durham County Mental Health and Behavioral Health Services (DCMBHS). From 2011 to 2015, DCMBHS submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid and was paid approximately $4 million for behavioral health services that were not provided.
Thomas also transferred funds from DCMBHS’ accounts to his own, receiving almost $1.5 million in income, but only reporting $2,000 of income from DCMBHS in tax years 2011 to 2015. This resulted in an unpaid federal tax liability of $518,997.
On March 1, 2019, Farrington, who pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud conspiracy and one count of tax evasion, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
The investigation and prosecution of this case was conducted by the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Medicaid Investigations Division, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division.
About the Medicaid Investigations Division (MID)
The Attorney General’s MID investigates fraud and abuse by healthcare companies and providers, as well as patient abuse and neglect in facilities that are funded by Medicaid. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that helps provide medical care for people with limited income. To date, the MID has recovered more than $500 million in restitution and penalties for North Carolina.
To report Medicaid fraud in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division at 919-881-2320.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
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