Bolingbrook woman charged with $2.46 million in Medicaid fraud
The owner of a Bolingbrook clinic has been charged with filing $2.46 million in false Medicaid claims.
LaTeena Smith, 37, of the 600 block of Piccadilly Lane in Bolingbrook, pleaded "not guilty" at her arraignment Friday in DuPage County Circuit Court.
She was charged on Aug. 8 with four counts of theft; one count of managed health care fraud; and one count of forgery.
Smith was arrested Aug. 9, posted $100,000 bond and was released that day, according to court records.
She owns Power Positive Youth Development, according to a news release from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. The charges allege that from June 2021 to February 2023, Smith submitted fraudulent bills for psychotherapy services she did not provide, to two managed-care organizations: $978,000 to Molina Healthcare and more than $1.5 million to MCO Meridian Health.
Raoul's Medicaid Fraud Bureau investigated the matter, with aid from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Illinois State Police's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
Smith's next court date is Oct. 13.
If convicted of the top count, theft, she could be sentenced to 6 to 30 years in prison.