A licensed counselor from Gorham pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland to defrauding MaineCare of $5,202 by overbilling and submitting fraudulent paperwork for counseling sessions that either did not happen or were shorter than he said they were, prosecutors said.
Paulo D. Braga, 66, was indicted Aug. 9 for health care fraud after investigators discovered that, between 2010 and 2013, he submitted more than 50 fraudulent billing and progress reports to MaineCare through a third-party mental health agency, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II.
MaineCare is Maine’s version of Medicaid, a federally funded program that provides health insurance to people with low incomes. According to prosecutors, Braga instructed his office staff to create and sign his name on false reports based on scheduled appointments that never occurred.
He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced after a standard investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Healthcare Crimes Unit of the Maine Attorney General’s Office; and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
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