CT alcohol and drug counselor sentenced to prison for Medicaid fraud scheme

A New Haven drug and alcohol counselor was sentenced to a year in prison for submitting hundreds of Medicaid applications for services that were never provided using the identification numbers of many people without their knowledge in order to fraudulently receive more than $100,000.

Ethel Bethea, 61, was sentenced Thursday in Hartford Superior Court, where Judge David P. Gold ordered her to serve five years of probation once she is released from prison, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.

While on probation, a violation would subject Bethea to an additional six years in prison, Gold ordered.

Criminal justice officials said Gold also ordered her to pay $38,000 in restitution by Monday, with the remaining $63,408 to be paid while she serves her probation. In total, she was ordered to pay $101,408 in restitution.

Bethea was also ordered not to act as a Medicaid provider or provide services to any Medicaid recipient, criminal justice officials said.

Prior to sentencing, Bethea pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to first-degree theft by defrauding a public community, health insurance fraud and third-degree identity theft.

By having been convicted of a crime related to the program, court officials said she was “also subject to mandatory exclusion as a health care provider from certain federally funded health programs, pursuant to federal and state laws and regulations.

“Medicaid is a government program that provides health coverage to low-income, disabled, and elderly individuals, and is funded by both the federal and state governments,” the Division of Criminal Justice said in a news release.

In September 2018, Bethea was approved by the Connecticut Department of Human Services as a Connecticut medical assistance provider, an official said. The type of services Bethea could provide was that of a behavioral health clinician specializing as a licensed alcohol and drug counselor. She operated her own business, Ethel Bethea Counseling.

Medicaid Fraud Control Unit inspectors determined that between September 2018 and October 2019, Bethea submitted hundreds of claims for services she claimed to have provided that were not provided. Bethea used numerous people's Medicaid ID numbers “without their consent or knowledge” to submit fraudulent claims and obtain $101,408 “for these false bills,” court officials said.

Additionally, Bethea claimed to have no income and enrolled as a Medicaid recipient, receiving personal medical services paid for by Medicaid, officials said.

The investigation was conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the state Attorney General's Office, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Connecticut Attorney General's Office.

Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public health care system is asked to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Chief State Attorney's Office at 860-258-5986.