Johnstown man sentenced for health care fraud, kickback offenses

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Johnstown man was sentenced Tuesday for committing healthcare fraud and kickback offensives while serving as a counselor in Connecticut.

Jeffrey Slocum, 56, was sentenced to three years probation, which includes house arrest for the first 12 months, according to the Department of Justice . He must also pay $695,048 in restitution to Medicaid.

Between 2017 to 2022, Slocum, who previously lived in East Lyme, Connecticut, was a licensed professional counselor (LPC), court documents show. In 2020, the Connecticut Medicaid program notified Slocum they were going to audit certain claims for his psychotherapy services that were billed between March 2018 through February 2020.

The audit determined Slocum received $225,000 from Medicaid for services that he did not document. Medicaid informed Slocum it would begin to collect the overpayments by deducting them from future payments. However, Slocum began submitting fraudulent claims to Medicaid for psychotherapy services that he never provided, the DOJ says.

Slocum also schemed to pay kickbacks to his Medicaid patients in order to induce them to receive psychotherapy services from him. These kickbacks to patients were in the form of cash, money orders, Wal-Mart and VISA gift cards.

Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters .

On Aug. 16, 2023, Slocum pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of violating the federal anti-kickback statute.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com.