‘The damaging impacts of corruption’
Nine therapists stole from developmentally disabled kids: Prosecutors
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Authorities in Brooklyn
arrested nine therapists for
allegedly swindling over
$3 million from a program
meant to help developmentally
disabled children.
The New York State Early
Intervention Program (EIP)
is ostensibly designed to provide
developmentally delayed
children with necessary services,
including physical and
speech therapy.
Between 2015 and 2019,
however, the nine defendants
allegedly submitted fake documents
showing thousands
of EIP therapy sessions that
never took place, according
to federal authorities.
“The defendants exploited
disabled infants and toddlers,
the youngest and most
vulnerable among us, to enrich
themselves by millions
of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney
Breon Peace in a statement.
Their allegedly fake sessions
netted the defendants
around $3.3 million, which
is partially paid for through
the federal Medicaid program
COURIER L 18 IFE, OCT. 29-NOV. 4, 2021
— making their alleged
fraud both horrid as well as a
federal crime.
“Defrauding government
programs produces a ripple
effect that trickles down to
taxpayers who foot the bill
for fraud schemes,” FBI Assistant
Director-in-Charge
Michael Driscoll said in a
statement.
Making the scheme even
more appalling, the EIP
provides a fi xed amount of
money to New York’s patients
— therefore the defendants
allegedly deprived over 200
developmentally disabled
children from receiving the
therapy sessions they desperately
need, according to
the Department of Investigations.
“The defendants not only
stole money from the system
itself, they also prevented
children with EIPs from accessing
the amount of care
they were authorized to receive,”
Driscoll continued.
“When systems designed to
help our most vulnerable are
manipulated in this way, rest
assured federal charges will
be applied.”
The defendants became
so brazen with their alleged
fraud that they often billed
the EIP program for providing
therapy sessions every
single day for long periods of
time, including on holidays
like Christmas and Thanksgiving,
according to prosecutors.
The accused therapists
would also claim that sessions
took place in the middle
of the night, or on days
when they were not even in
New York.
One Brooklyn therapist,
Mercedes Falcon, allegedly
claimed payment for 6,100
sessions when he wasn’t even
actually in Brooklyn, according
to prosecutors, who cited
Falcon’s phone records as evidence
in their indictment.
The nine defendants — Falcon,
Marsiste Adolphe, Margaret
Dominique-McLain,
Tracy Gibson, Roselee Johnson,
Jeannette Monclova,
Manuel Moore, Kikelomo
Ogundiran, and Dino Paolicelli
— face a maximum of 10
years behind bars, prosecutors
say.
“This criminal case exemplifi
es the broad and damaging
impact of corruption.
These nine defendants not
only stole more than $3.3 million
in public funds but also
robbed more than 200 New
York City children of essential
Early Intervention services
they were entitled to
receive,” said DOI Commissioner
Margret Garnett.
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