Saturday, August 2, 2008

Woman pleads guilty to health care fraud

A Severna Park woman pleaded guilty in federal court to health care fraud yesterday for billing for medical services she did not provide, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Virginia Vought Acree, 49, a state-licensed clinical specialist in child and adolescent psychiatric and mental health nursing, admitted to falsely billing for services she did not provide on hundreds of occasions from January 2003 to November 2007, prosecutors said. She filed fraudulent insurance claims to collect more than $200,000 from the government and private health care plans.

At times, Acree billed for face-to-face psychotherapy services at the same time she was on vacation in other states or countries, or attending out-of-town conferences, prosecutors said.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 7. Acree could get a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here we are - October 10 and no sentence yet for Virginia Acree. I lived in the same community with this thief, and she generally presented herself as self-absorbed and better than the rest. Upon getting caught, most of her right wing republican neighbors rallied around her and blamed her plight on the system. No wonder our country is in such a financial pickle. All those white upper class (no class) neighbors will be horified when our next president will be a young intelligent and energetic black man with a liberal agenda. God Bless America, and God Bless this thief and her family. I believe they must give her a long sentence in the New Jersey Federal lock-up, to make her an example to others considering stealing for their own gain. Sad but true.