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Tapped Medicaid Account
Vladimir Prokopchuk was charged with four counts of Grand Larceny in the third degree and four counts of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the third degree, which are each Class D felonies. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison. Diverted Medicaid Funds DOI Investigators alleged that he had misappropriated cash earmarked for Medicaid spending from an account belonging to the Bronx Jewish Community Council (BJCC). A source said his wife had been employed there. The BJCC has a $2.3 million-a-year contract with the Human Resources Administration to provide home attendant services to Medicaid-eligible individuals in The Bronx. As the Inspector General for HRA, which administers the Medicaid program for the city, DOI investigates allegations of Medicaid fraud. The probe began when the director of the BJCC reported to both DOI and the Police Department that four unauthorized withdrawals, totaling $38,130.09 in Medicaid funds, had been made from the BJCC payroll account. Paid Credit-Card Bills A joint investigation by DOI and the NYPD found that in June and July 2006 four electronic withdrawals ranging from $9,000 to $10,648 had been made from BJCC's payroll account. Investigators determined that Mr. Prokopchuk allegedly cited the BJCC payroll account's bank routing and account number while making electronic payments totaling $19,648.48 for credit card bills at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, and $18,481.61 at the Bank of America. All of the payments have been reversed and the funds have been credited back to the BJCC payroll account. In a written statement announcing the arrest, DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said, "This individual thought he had engineered a clever scheme toward debt-free living. Instead, as these charges indicate, he may be in the process of earning a criminal record."
Mr. Prokopchuk has been employed by NYC Transit since
September 2002. | |||||
