Man denies Medicaid fraud
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Published: July 18, 2009
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Williamstown man denied charges Tuesday he billed Medicaid for nearly $10,000 for work with an autistic man he never actually performed.
James Rushford, 43, pleaded innocent in White River Junction District Court to a felony charge of Medicaid fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and fines as much as twice the amount defrauded, which in this case would be nearly $20,000.
According to an affidavit filed with the court, in 2007, a company in White River Junction that contracts with the state to process Medicaid payments notified a woman in the Montpelier area she had used all of her allotted fiscal services for the calendar year for her 20-year-old autistic son.
The company included a time sheet submitted by Rushford that appeared to have been signed by the mother, but she said she had not employed Rushford for more than two years, records state. I
nvestigators learned Rushford had submitted 10 time sheets and was paid $9,169 for hours he did not work and were able to confirm that some of the hours Rushford had billed for overlapped with hours the man attended classes within the Montpelier School District.
Investigators later interviewed Rushford, who reportedly admitted signing the mother's name and submitting the time sheets but said they were for services he had performed the year before, affidavits state. However, he was unable to demonstrate to investigators that he had not been paid properly, records state.
— Staff Reports
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