St. Jude Home Care owner charged with fraud

By Sean Cahill

scahill@abc6.com

The owner and director of a St. Jude Home Care have been charged with committing Medicaid fraud, according to the Attorney General’s office.

The owner, 54-year-old Priscilla Pascale of Barrington, was charged with five counts of Medicaid fraud and five counts of conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud.

Orfa Lemaire, 37, the director of clinical services, was also charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud.

According to the AG’s office, it is alleged that between 2010 and 2013, St. Jude placed unlicensed certified nursing assistants in patient’s homes, then fraudulently billed Medicaid for CAN services for around $785,000.

The alleged fraud was discovered after a routine audit found St. Jude was submitting billing forms with allegedly altered dates that fraudulently reported in-home nursing surveys had been conducted on high-acuity patients.

Pascale was arraigned Tuesday and released on $10,000 personal recognizance. Lemaire is scheduled to be arraigned on April 28.

(C) WLNE/TV