Standish man sentenced
for health care fraud
PORTLAND — A Standish man has been sentenced to a year in prison and must pay nearly $90,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to health care fraud.
Paulo D. Braga, 66, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen, according to a press release from the office of Maine’s Acting U.S. Attorney Richard Murphy.
Citing court documents, the press release says that Braga, a licensed clinical professional counselor with offices in Portland and Windham, instructed his employees to bill for client sessions under MaineCare even when patients didn’t show up for appointments. That false information resulted in over-payment to his practice from the MaineCare system, which is part of the federal Medicaid system.
The press release also says that Braga’s case was investigated by several agencies: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations and the Healthcare Crimes Unit of the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Braga hired former mental health and substance abuse patients as office assistants, who he then instructed to submit the false information and max out payments from MaineCare, according to the acting U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
Braga pleaded guilty on Nov. 29, 2016. He was sentenced to one year and a day in prison, and ordered to pay $89,445.
New pastor named
for St. Joseph Parish
PORTLAND — Bishop Robert P. Deeley of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has appointed Father Edward R. Clifford pastor of St. Joseph Parish, which includes St. Joseph Church in Bridgton and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Fryeburg. Clifford will also be pastor of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, which includes St. Catherine of Sienna Church, Norway; Our Lady of Ransom Church, Mechanic Falls; and St. Mary Church, Oxford.
Since August of 2016, Clifford has served as parochial vicar of St. Michael Parish in the Augusta area. A native of Shawmut, he received a degree in political science from the University of Dayton in Ohio and a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Maine in Orono. He had a 20-year career in municipal government in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Biddeford. In 2014, he earned a second master’s degree (divinity) from Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts. He was ordained in 2014, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland. Upon his ordination, Clifford was named parochial vicar for the Portland Peninsula and Island Parishes.
College to recognize
Phillips with degree
STANDISH — Noted community development practitioner Ron L. Phillips, founder and retired president and CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc., will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service during the upcoming Saint Joseph’s College Commencement exercises.
The college is recognizing Phillips’ public service in developing financial investment and legislative initiatives that have created economic opportunity nationwide for people and places at the margins of the economy. A prolific author, Phillips was appointed in by the Obama Administration to the CDFI Fund Advisory Council of the U.S. Treasury and served on the Federal Reserve Bank’s Board of Governors’ Consumer Advisory Council. He received the Ned Gramlich Award for Responsible Finance, his industry’s highest honor. Philips is co-chair of Saint Joseph’s Mission-Aligned Business Advisory Council.
More than 650 students will be awarded degrees at the commencement exercises, which will begin at 1o a.m. Saturday, May 13, on the Saint Joseph College campus.
Sheriff’s Office seeks
pickup driver in chase
NAPLES — The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is working to identify an individual that allegedly led a deputy on a high-speed chase late Monday night.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, a deputy attempted to pull over a driver in a 1999 white Dodge Ram pickup truck that was operating erratically northbound on Route 11 in Naples just before midnight on April 24. The driver refused to stop, and led the deputy on a chase that reached 100 miles per hour.
The chase went through Casco and into Otisfield, and ended when the driver of the truck drove off the road and into the woods, where the driver left it. The truck was later found but the driver was not initially identified.
The white truck has a dark colored hood and loud exhaust. The Sheriff’s Office put out a call for information from anyone who might know who was operating the vehicle at the time.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said it had several leads in the case, but had not yet released a suspect’s name.
Volunteers sought
to sample watershed
The Presumpscot Regional Land Trust is looking for volunteers to collect water quality samples throughout the Presumpscot River watershed in the towns of Gorham, Falmouth, Westbrook and Windham twice a month on Saturday mornings this spring and summer. No experience is necessary. Volunteers will be trained Saturday morning, May 6, at the University of Southern Maine Gorham campus. To learn more or to sign up, go to www.prlt.org/get-involved/. Contact project coordinator Toby Jacobs at [email protected] or 839-4633 with any questions.
Diamond, Fay hosting
town hall meeting
RAYMOND — Two Lakes Region legislators will hold a town hall meeting in Raymond next week to discuss issues under consideration in Augusta, including the state budget.
Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, and Rep. Jess Fay, D-Raymond, will host the forum next Saturday, May 6, at the Raymond Public Safety Building. The event will go from 10-11:30 a.m. and will provide an opportunity for local residents to ask questions.
Diamond’s district includes Baldwin, Casco, Frye Island, Standish, Raymond, and Windham. Fay’s district includes part of Casco, part of Poland, and part of Raymond.
Father Ed Clifford
Ron L. Phillips
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