A Crown Point lady is implicated of health care scams and intensified identity theft in federal court, after apparently utilizing an incorrect identity to develop Sanctuary Health LLC and bilk Indiana Medicaid and other insurance providers out of more than $135,000 in repayment payments over 2 years.
Christine L. Reese of Crown Point has a possible cause and detention hearing set up for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday prior to U.S. District Magistrate Judge John E. Martin at the U.S. District Court House in Hammond after she was hung on the charges Aug. 23 following an FBI raid of her Crown Point house and practice.
A grievance submitted in federal court by FBI Unique Representative William Powell sets out what he referred to as a plan to utilize another person’s Indiana Expert Licensing Firm recognition number to impersonate a certified psychologist for the function of running a psychology center she was not accredited to run and apparently look for repayment from Indiana Medicaid and other insurance coverage companies for services Reese might not lawfully supply.
According to court records, state law needs psychologists be accredited by the Indiana Expert Licensing Firm, which needs candidates to reveal they have a postgraduate degree in psychology.
” Christine Reese has actually never ever been accredited as a psychologist by the Indiana Expert Licensing Firm,” the file checks out.
Reese was given a federally designated protector and has actually been held without bond pending the hearing to permit pretrial services to prepare a report and house evaluation of the offender’s house.
Her lawyer, federal public protector Peter Boyles, decreased to talk about Tuesday.
In files, Powell set out a timeline revealing that on or around Feb. 27, 2020 Reese obtained a medical psychologist task with a detailed psychological health service business in Munster which was a licensed Medicaid Company. She apparently represented herself as a medical psychologist with a postgraduate degree in psychology, according to the files.
” Her application consisted of a copy of a deceitful diploma which incorrectly declared that Reese got a medical professional of psychology degree from the Chicago School of Expert Psychology in August 2018.
” In truth, Reese does have a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Phoenix,” the files continue.
Reese’s application to Business A likewise consisted of a copy of a deceitful license declaring she was accredited as a medical psychologist with the Illinois Department of Financial and Expert Guideline. She likewise apparently sent an IPLA recognition number and incorrectly declared it was hers.
” The recognition number that Reese utilized in her work application actually came from another person, C.R., who was a certified nurse in Indiana,” the affidavit continues.
The specific, determined as C.R. in court files, might not instantly be grabbed remark.
Reese achieved success in her application to business A and was worked with around March 20, 2020 as an agreement scientific therapist where she worked full-time and would deal with as much as 51 clients consisting of Medicaid receivers throughout a basic two-week duration, according to court files.
Throughout Reese’s work at Business A, Indiana Medicaid paid more than $36,000 for services Reese declared she supplied. Reese was ended from her task around Sept. 24, 2021.
Simply 5 days later on, the IPLA released a telehealth center license to Sanctuary Therapy LLC, an organization owned and or run by Reese and Roy C. Reese Jr., who at the time was a boyfriend/business partner. They wed Oct. 4, 2021, according to the affidavit.
On Aug. 24, Reese Jr., who lives in Chicago, was charged with illegal ownership of a gun by a severe violent felon, a Level 4 felony, and he bonded out of the Lake County Prison Tuesday by publishing $2,500 bail. He has a court hearing in his case set for Wednesday.
The IPLA might not instantly be grabbed remark Tuesday.
A bio on the Sanctuary Therapy site under among Reese’s aliases, Dr. Christine Lang, determines her as a certified scientific psychologist and the scientific executive director. The bio reads she got her Illinois State Medical Psychology license in 2019 and a master’s degree in scientific psychological health therapy from Northwestern University, then got a doctorate in scientific psychology from The Chicago School of Expert Psychology. It likewise notes a range of expert associations.
The address noted on Sanctuary Therapy’s site– 18125 Roy St., Suite 402, in Lansing, Illinois– is really the area of the U.S. Post Workplace.
According to the court records, in November 2021, Reese utilized deceptive and taken info to enlist Sanctuary Therapy as an Indiana Medicaid Service Provider. On the application the problem declares she incorrectly determined herself in print and handwritten signature as “Dr.” Christine Reese. On a 2nd kind for Sanctuary Therapy she utilized the name of a certified psychologist, determined as M.O. in the court files, and declared that M.O was a rendering supplier for the center.
According to the problem, that specific never ever worked for the center and rejected signing the application bearing her name and stated she never ever video game anybody approval to put her signature on the file. In another declared misbehaviour, Reese sent an IPLA recognition number and incorrectly represented it was hers on a Medicaid registration kind. The IPLA number come from a psychologist who never ever worked for Sanctuary Therapy.
Then, utilizing the deceptive info, Reese effectively had the ability to enlist Sanctuary Therapy as an Indiana Medicaid Service Provider. Throughout a duration start in November of 2021 and ending in January 2023, Reese through Sanctuary Therapy sent about 506 claims for repayment to Indiana Medicaid for around 18 specific Medicaid receivers.
” In overall Reece billed Medicaid and tried to gather around $135,350 for psychological health services supposedly rendered to Indiana Medicaid receivers,” the files declare.
All of Reese’s electronic claim submissions were insufficient and consequently rejected.