Attorney General John M. Formella announces that the Merrimack County Grand Jury has returned indictments charging Tucker Bean, age 31, and Felisha Cunningham, age 29, with theft and Medicaid fraud.
In August 2023, the New Hampshire Department of Justice’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received information that Mr. Bean and Ms. Cunningham were both submitting fraudulent requests for mileage reimbursement. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s investigation determined that between April 2023 and January 2024, Mr. Bean submitted mileage reimbursement requests using his parents’ home address in Conway, New Hampshire for trips to medical treatment in Franklin, New Hampshire. Additionally, between May 2023 and August 2023, Ms. Cunningham submitted mileage reimbursement requests using an address in Plymouth, New Hampshire for trips to the same treatment center in Franklin. However, they did not live at the Conway or Plymouth addresses they used for their mileage reimbursement requests. Rather, between April 2023 and January 2024, Mr. Bean and Ms. Cunningham lived together, primarily in the towns of Franklin and Tilton, and notwithstanding that they carpooled together to the Franklin treatment facility, they each made separate claims for mileage reimbursement on numerous occasions between May 2023 and August 2023. As a result of Mr. Bean’s and Ms. Cunningham’s allegedly fraudulent reimbursement requests, the couple received more than $15,000.00 in mileage reimbursement that they were not entitled to receive.
Mr. Bean and Ms. Cunningham are both charged with a class A felony count of Theft by Deception and two class B felony counts of Medicaid Fraud. Mr. Bean is scheduled for a hearing in the Merrimack County Superior Court on September 25, 2024. Ms. Cunningham is scheduled for a hearing in the Merrimack County Superior Court on October 17, 2024. The charges and allegations against Mr. Bean and Ms. Cunningham are merely accusations, and Mr. Bean and Ms. Cunningham are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The maximum penalty on the class A felonies is 7½ to 15 years in the New Hampshire State Prison and a $4,000.00 fine. The maximum penalty on the class B felonies is 3½ to 7 years in the New Hampshire State Prison and a $4,000.00 fine.
The case was investigated by Investigator John Lannon and Financial Investigator Timothy Brackett of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with assistance from the Franklin and Tilton Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Thomas T. Worboys and Assistant Attorney General Andrew Yourell of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes fraud by healthcare providers who treat Medicaid beneficiaries. Healthcare providers include, but are not limited to, hospitals, nursing homes, doctors, dentists, pharmacies, ambulance companies, and anyone else who is paid for providing healthcare services to Medicaid beneficiaries. If you would like to report a case of provider fraud, please contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at (603) 271-1246.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $987,576 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2024. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $329,191 for FY 2024, is funded by the State of New Hampshire.
Original source can be found here.