Charlotte Besumbu Etongwe, 45, of Beltsville, Maryland, pled guilty in federal court to defrauding the DC Medicaid program out of more than a quarter million dollars. According to a statement of offense submitted to the Court, Etongwe worked as a personal care aide for eleven different home health agencies at various times between July 2014 and March 2019. The home health agencies employed Etongwe to assist DC Medicaid beneficiaries in performing activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of bed, bathing, dressing, and eating. Etongwe was supposed to document the care she provided to the Medicaid beneficiaries on timesheets and then submit the timesheets to the home health agencies, which would in turn bill Medicaid for the services that she rendered. Between 2014 and 2019, Etongwe caused the DC Medicaid Program to issue payments totaling $369,970 for services that she did not render. As part of her fraud scheme, she submitted false timesheets to different home health agencies claiming that she provided 22 hours or more of personal care aide services. She also submitted false timesheets claiming to have provided personal care aide services to multiple Medicaid beneficiaries in overlapping hours.
