FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Rocky Hill, CT) – A West Hartford woman was sentenced in Hartford Superior Court on August 28, 2024 for submitting false claims to the Connecticut Medicaid Health Insurance Program.
The Honorable Paul R. Doyle sentenced Lorena Soto-Bunker, age 49, of Seneca Road, West Hartford, and owner of Where Healing Begins, to two years in prison, execution of that time suspended, with five years of conditional discharge, the condition being that she is not to serve as a provider in the Medicaid program. Soto-Bunker, pleaded nolo contendere and was convicted of Health Insurance Fraud, in violation of Connecticut General Statute § 53-442, classified as a B Felony.
An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney of Soto-Bunker and Alicia Thompkins, a co-defendant in the case, showed that between September 2018 and September 2019, Soto-Bunker was not a licensed behavioral health therapist when she was working for Collaborative Counseling Center, LLC, a company that was owned and operated by Thompkins. Soto-Bunker reported that she was performing counseling services for Collaborative Counseling Center. Thompkins submitted the billings to Medicaid as if she herself performed licensed qualified sessions. Evidence acquired through investigation showed Soto-Bunker was not meeting with clients as she reported, but was submitting claims to Thompkins. She caused those false claims to be billed and paid by the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program in the amount of $19,785.75.
Thompkins was convicted in 2023 of Health Insurance Fraud for her role in submitting the unlicensed, unsupervised, unqualified services purportedly performed. Following a judge’s order, Thompkins paid $140,000 in restitution for submitting the billings for services provided by unlicensed people as well as for unrendered services.
Soto-Bunker caused the submission of claims to the Department of Social Services which contained false, incomplete, deceptive or misleading information which constitutes the crime of Health Insurance Fraud. By being found guilty of a program-related felony, the defendant is also subject to mandatory exclusion as a health care provider to certain federally funded health programs pursuant to federal and state laws and regulations. Medicaid is a government program that provides health coverage to low-income, disabled, and elderly individuals, and is financed by both the federal and state governments.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The Unit is grateful for the assistance it received in the investigation from the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services Office of Quality Assurance and the New Britain Police Department.
The Connecticut 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 $2,988,308 for the fiscal year of October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $996,099 for the same fiscal year is funded by the State of Connecticut.
Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public healthcare system is asked to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office at 860-258-5986.