The owner of a home healthcare agency who was found guilty of Medicaid fraud was sentenced today in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. Dorreetha Irby, the owner of Loving Hearts LLC of Columbus, was sentenced to 5 years of probation, a suspended 10-month prison and must pay $13,261.06 in restitution. In May, after a weeklong trial, she was found guilty of Medicaid fraud and forgery, each a fifth-degree felony. Loving Hearts contracted with the Ohio Department of Medicaid and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities to provide in-home care to Medicaid recipients with developmental disabilities. An investigation by Yost’s Ohio Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) found that Irby created false time sheets and routinely billed for the maximum allotted care hours, regardless of whether the services were actually provided.
