7th defendant pleads guilty in alleged $80 million Medicaid fraud case

A Pittsburgh woman pleaded guilty to federal charges of Medicaid fraud and conspiracy.

Tionne Street, 48, was accused of defrauding Medicaid for about $70,000 and was one of about 16 people who were indicted on the alleged conspiracy involving about $80 million in overall fraud.

Street is the seventh person to enter a guilty plea.

At a plea hearing, Street said she was an employee of Moriarty Consultants, Inc., one of four home health care companies in the alleged conspiracy. The other three entities were Activity Daily Living Services, Inc., Coordination Care, Inc., and Everyday People Staffing, Inc.

Street was involved in the conspiracy from about January 2011 through April 2017, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said Street admitted to “participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Pennsylvania Medicaid program for the purpose of obtaining millions of dollars in illegal Medicaid payments through the submission of fraudulent claims for services that were never provided to the consumers identified on the claims, or for which there was insufficient or fabricated documentation to support the claims.”

Street said she fabricated time sheets for in-home personal assistance care not provided to consumers, according to prosecutors. Some of the “fabricated care” happened while Street was working for a different employer.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon scheduled Street’s sentencing for March 17.