Miami-Dade Husband and Wife Arrested for $200,000 Medicaid Fraud

April 26, 2007 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Miami-Dade husband and wife were arrested on charges they defrauded the Florida Medicaid program out of more than $200,000. Steven Stuart Sanford and Michelle Hoyer-Sanford, both licensed occupational therapists, own and operate a company which provides physical, occupational and speech therapy to children.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating the Sanfords’ company, Functional Integrative Therapy, after receiving information from the Agency for Health Care Administration. The investigation revealed the Sanfords allegedly billed the Medicaid Program for providing two or three different types of services during the same time period, although Medicaid can only reimburse for one treatment per 15 minutes of face-to-face therapy. Many of the children who were subjected to these therapies were under the age of ten and several of them are disabled. The Sanfords’ facility, also known as Fit for Kids, is located in North Miami Beach.

Article continues below...

Steven and Michelle Sanford are each charged with grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, both first-degree felonies. The charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Additionally, the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit seized funds from several bank accounts controlled by the Sanfords pursuant to the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. The case will be prosecuted by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.

Source: Florida Attorney General