According to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Chillemi, xxxxxxx, of Upper Saddle River, and Omar Mohammad, 34, of Upper Saddle River, pleaded guilty yesterday (Nov. 14) to third-degree Medicaid fraud before Superior Court Judge Martin Cronin in Essex County. The charges were contained in an October 26, 2009 state grand jury indictment.
Judge Cronin scheduled the sentencing for January 20, 2012. Under the plea agreement, the State will recommend xxxxxx be sentenced to 90 days county jail as a condition of probation and Mohammad be sentenced to a non-custodial probationary term.
In pleading guilty, xxxxxx, who was a licensed pharmacist at Orange Drugs in Newark, admitted that between May 11, 2006 and October 15, 2008 he offered bribes to Medicaid beneficiaries to induce them to bring their prescriptions to Orange Drugs. Mohammad, also a licensed pharmacist at Orange Drugs, pleaded guilty to knowingly submitting claims to the Medicaid program for drugs that were not dispensed.
This case was part of Operation PharmScam, which revealed that six pharmacies and two medical clinics in Jersey City and Newark participated in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud Medicaid. The investigation involved more than 25 individuals, including pharmacists, doctors, physician assistants, pharmacy technicians and Medicaid beneficiaries. Under this scheme, the pharmacies were billing Medicaid for high priced AIDS/HIV and specialty drugs that were never ordered from the wholesalers or dispensed to the beneficiaries.
Detective Kevin Gannon, former Deputy Attorney General Sherry Wilson, Deputy Attorneys General Debra Conrad, Cynthia Vazquez, David Noble and Dolores Blackburn were assigned to the investigation. Noble and Blackburn represented the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty plea hearing.
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