Marrero Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Health Care Fraud

NEW ORLEANS, LA—JO ANN GIROD, age 36, a resident of Marrero, Louisiana, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Lemmon to 12 months and one day imprisonment for health care fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. GIROD was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $65,131 to the Louisiana Medicaid program. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Lemmon ordered that GIROD be placed on three years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, during which time the defendant will be under federal supervision and risks an additional term of imprisonment should she violate any terms of her supervised release.

According to court documents, A New Beginning of New Orleans, Inc.(ANBNO), was a Medicaid Provider located in Harvey, Louisiana that made claims for personal care services it claimed to have provided to Medicaid recipients. Personal care Sservices (PCS) are Medicaid services provided by attendants to eligible recipients meeting the medical necessity criteria who are unable to care for themselves. ANBNO solicited mothers with children who had Medicaid benefits to apply for PCS.

GIROD, the mother to three children who were Medicaid recipients, signed forms and represented that ANBNO provided PCS services to each of her children for two hours a day every day between April, 2001 and February, 2005. Instead of providing PCS, ANBNO workers assigned to care for GIROD’S children paid GIROD cash kickbacks for the use of her children’s Medicaid information. Based upon this fraudulent information, Medicaid paid approximately $65,131 to ANBNO for services that were not performed related specifically to GIROD’S children.

From the time of the inception of ANBNO, through May 4, 2005, Medicaid paid approximately $3,977,288 as a result of the fraudulent claims made by ANBNO and its employees. On September 9, 2009, three other workers and parents associated with ANBNO were convicted after a jury trial. Additionally, several other employees were convicted after guilty pleas, as was AKASIA LEE, the owner of ANBNO.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Patrice Harris Sullivan and Jordan Ginsberg.