March 5, 2010 - LITTLE ROCK—Jane W. Duke, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Thomas J. Browne, Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau Investigation, announced that Patrice Lynae Smith, age 26, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was indicted today by a federal grand jury. The indictment charges one count of health care fraud for attempting to execute a scheme to defraud the Arkansas Medicaid Program by falsely representing at the emergency room of Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock that she was an Arkansas Medicaid beneficiary.
Duke stated, “In our ongoing effort to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in federal health care programs, we will purse not only health care providers, but also individual patients who seek to defraud the program intended to meet the health care needs of the indigent in our state.”
The maximum statutory penalty for health care fraud is 10 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, and not more than three years of supervised release.
This investigation was conducted by agents from the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura G. Hoey.
An indictment contains only allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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