Carl Smith, age 65, of Dorchester, manager of New Horizon House, LLC, located in Dorchester, is charged with receiving Medicaid Kickbacks

Carl Smith has a “lengthy criminal record” dating back to 1975 when he was convicted of armed robbery. He was sentenced to three to five years in state prison.
He was also convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery in 1979, larceny in 1989, forgery and embezzlement in 1991, forgery and larceny in 1994, and possession of a hypodermic needle or syringe in 1995,.

A Suffolk Grand Jury returned indictments against Dr. Punyamurtula Kishore, age 61, of Brookline, his company Preventive Medicine Associates, Inc. (PMA), as well as three others charged in connection with allegedly running an intricate “kickback” scheme and fraudulently billing MassHealth nearly .8 million. Dr. Kishore, and Preventive Medicine Associates, are both individually charged with Medicaid Kickbacks (8 counts), and Medicaid False Claims (8 counts).

Dr. Kishore owns and manages PMA, a network of 29 medical branches throughout Massachusetts, some of which include physician office laboratories. Based on the AG’s investigation, Dr. Kishore allegedly used bribes or “kickbacks”—taking several different forms—to induce sober house owners to require their residents submit to urine drug screens performed by PMA’s physician office laboratories a minimum of three times a week. Drug screens generally are billed to the MassHealth program at a price of approximately 0 to 0.

Dr. Kishore allegedly manipulated those business relationships to bill MassHealth for tens of thousands of “medically necessary” urine drug screen testing of Medicaid eligible residents.
The Grand Jury also returned indictments against the following individuals in connection with their involvement in Dr. Kishore’s scheme to defraud the Massachusetts Medicaid Program.

Carl Smith, age 65, of Dorchester, manager of New Horizon House, LLC, located in Dorchester, is charged with receiving Medicaid Kickbacks (one count).

John Coughlin, age 31, of Carver, president of Gianna’s House Inc., which operates several sober houses located in Wareham, New Bedford, and Sandwich, is charged with receiving Medicaid Kickbacks (one count).

Thomas Leonard, age 56, of Malden, the part owner and manager of the Marshall House, a sober house located in Malden, held in the name of the 18 Maplewood Malden Trust, is charged with receiving Medicaid Kickbacks (one count).
On September 20, 2011, State Police assigned to the AG’s Office arrested Dr. Kishore at his Brookline residence. He was arraigned the following day in Malden District Court on one count of Medicaid Kickbacks at which time he pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at 0,000 and Dr. Kishore was ordered to surrender his passport and inform probation of any travel plans.

A Superior Court judge subsequently reduced Dr. Kishore’s bail to personal recognizance and ordered him released with monitoring of a GPS bracelet. The investigation is ongoing.

Carl Smith, was arrested last night in Dorchester and will be arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court. The other defendants will be summonsed for arraignment at a date to be determined.
These charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Nancy Maroney and was investigated by Investigator Brian Robinson, both of the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division. Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Attorney General’s Office, Examiners from AG Coakley’s Computer Forensics Lab, Special Agents from the Boston Office of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and investigators from the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau also assisted in this case