Rockland County Social Worker Sentenced To Jail For Stealing $274,000 From Medicaid And Medicare

Attorney General Spitzer announced today that Rockland County Court Judge Kenneth Resnick sentenced Nyack social worker Allen Steven Levy on August 23, 2005 to six months’ imprisonment and five years probation for stealing nearly $275,000 from the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Levy pleaded guilty on June 21st to two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. As part of a plea agreement with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Levy repaid taxpayers $274,431 in restitution and surrendered his license to practice psychotherapy in New York.

Levy admitted that he stole $190,005 from the Medicaid program and $84,426 from Medicare by systematically presenting fraudulent claims to those programs between 1998 and 2003. Levy defrauded the government programs by billing for: sessions he did not provide; sessions which were required to be performed face-to-face which he, in fact, provided over the telephone; and treatment performed in New York City which were actually performed in Rockland County for which lower reimbursement rates applied.

As part of his fraudulent scheme to defraud the government, the indictment also alleged that Levy placed false psychotherapy progress notes in patient files.

Levy, 53, of 54 Lee Drive in Fairfield, Connecticut, formerly maintained offices at 48 Birch Street and 2 Crossfield Drive in Nyack and at 350 Central Park West and 25 West 81st St. in Manhattan.

Special Assistant Attorney General Thom O’Hanlon, of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Pearl River Regional Office, prosecuted the case. Supervising Investigator Paul Greenspan, Principal Special Auditor Investigator John Regan and Associate Special Auditor Investigator Melissa Stoebling assisted in the investigation.