Imprisoned Atmore Dentist Office Manager Pays Restitution
May 12, 2010
A former dentist office manager serving four months in federal prison has paid just over $5,000 in restitution.
Toni McMurphy, 55, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and mail fraud in federal court in March. McMurphy was sentenced by Judge Kristi K. DuBose to four months in prison. She is due to be released from the Marianna Federal Correctional Institution on August 11.
Her prison term will be followed by four months of home confinement under the supervision of the Bureau of Prisons during which time she will be subject to electronic monitoring or another location verification system.
Late last week, McMurphy paid $5,267 in restitution, according to federal court documents.
In her plea agreement, McMurphy admitted that while working for Buckley and Buckley Family Dentistry between January 1, 2006, and November, 2008, she bilked about $45,000 from insurance companies by filing false claims for services never performed or by upgrading lower cost procedures to higher cost procedures.
“The insurance carriers would then send reimbursement checks to Buckley Family Dentistry to pay for the fraudulent claims,” McMurphy stated in her plea agreement. “I would then misapply said fraudulent proceeds, thereby allowing me to apply proceeds to different patients and to withdraw cash from Buckley Family Dentistry.”
The mail fraud charge stemmed from an incident in June, 2008, when McMurphy admitted that she filed a false claim with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama asking for reimbursement on behalf of a patient claiming that the dentist had extracted two of her teeth. Blue Cross and Blue Shield then mailed a payment for the services never performed to an Atmore post office box.
McMurphy faced up to 20 years in prison, three years probation and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
Comments
9 Responses to “Imprisoned Atmore Dentist Office Manager Pays Restitution”
I just bilked my wife out of 40 bucks. I told her I was broke and she handed it right over. Think I’ll go see if I can get a job with those folks…seems like bilkin’ is a heckofa job.
Thanks William for using one of my favorite words!
not bad $5,000 per month.anyone hiring?
Where money is involved, crooks always find a way. Count your change at the drive thru too. It has been common practice among thieves to short change the drive thru customer a dollar or two as opportunity allows. Thats why they “throw” your change back to you as if they are in a hurry. Over a shift one can acquire several hundred dollars and the cash register will still balance. The customer is usually way down the road when they discover the shortage if they ever do. COUNT YOUR CHANGE BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE.
Really? Cool. My mistake! Well, thanks to you and this article William, I will embrace every opportunity to use that word! Keep up all your great work. I enjoy reading your articles!
Seems as this might be an invitation for all employees to start bilking the employer. The problem is most all people have to much class to do that. Most of the people,are really good hard working folks. It’s the few bad apples that ruin the whole bushel.
> “BILKED”…is that a cross between milked and billed?
Just kidding around William!
“Bilked” really is a word.
v. To defraud, cheat, or swindle
It’s one of those words you don’t get to use very much in life. I’ve always like the sound of it.
So she gets basically 8 months and pays back 5,000 of a 45,000 dollar
rip off.
Gee that means she got 40,000.00 for 8 months.
Does that sound like a good deal to anyone else?
I mean for her, not for the tax payers that will have to make up\
the difference.
It always comes back to us to pay more to mitigate these kinds of
damages……
“In her plea agreement, McMurphy admitted that while working for Buckley and Buckley Family Dentistry between January 1, 2006, and November, 2008, she bilked about $45,000 from insurance companies by filing false claims for services never performed or by upgrading lower cost procedures to higher cost procedures.”
“BILKED”…is that a cross between milked and billed?
Just kidding around William!