Medicaid Provider Charged with Billing for Work in Connecticut When He Was in Texas

A Windsor Locks man was arrested today and charged with billing the Medicaid program for face-to-face treatment of acquired and traumatic brain injury (ABI) patients in Connecticut when instead he was actually in Texas.

TARIK M. ABDULAZIZ, age 50, of Kate Way, Windsor Locks, was arrested by Inspectors from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and charged with one count each of Larceny in the First Degree by Defrauding a Public Community and Health Insurance Fraud.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Abdulaziz was an enrolled provider in the state’s ABI waiver program, which is a federal and state funded Medicaid program that develops and delivers treatment to individuals with acquired and traumatic brain injury.

Between June 2018 and January 2019, Abdulaziz submitted 113 claims for face-to-face treatment of ABI patients in Connecticut when he was actually in Texas. He was paid about $13,650 for these false claims, the warrant alleges.

Abdulaziz was released on a $25,000 non-surety bond and is scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court, G.A. No. 14, on September 5, 2019. The charges are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Larceny in the First Degree By Defrauding a Public Community is a class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Health Insurance Fraud is an unclassified felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

The case will be prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The Unit is grateful for the assistance it received in this investigation from the state Department of Social Services Office of Quality Assurance, Office of the Attorney General and the Rocky Hill Police Department.