TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Social worker jailed for fraud

Local News

July 21, 2008

Rhonn Gilchrist, 59, fined and jailed for double billing

Staff Reports The Niagara Gazette Mon Jul 21, 2008, 06:18 PM EDT

Rhonn Gilchrist, 59, of the Town of Tonawanda, was sentenced to a year in jail Monday for defrauding health care insurance companies.

Gilchrist, a licensed social worker, was convicted Feb. 20 of submitting insurance claims for treatment he never provided and billing two companies for the same treatment.

While it’s legal to bill two companies for the same treatment, the health care provider must inform both companies and return funds received greater than 100 percent of the cost of the procedure, said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Rogowski.

Investigators from the Western New York Health Care Fraud Task Force discovered Gilchrist’s office at Niagara Falls Boulevard did not disclose his double billing and kept the overage from payments during a period from 2002 until 2007.

In addition to the jail time, U.S. District Judge William Skretny fined Gilchrist $3,000 and ordered him to make restitution to the companies. In addition, Gilchrist agreed to a criminal forfeiture of $90,000 and a condominium in Sarasota, Fla., valued at $400,000 purchased in part using proceeds from the criminal activity.

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