Paul D. Polen, age 71, of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania was charged by criminal information with one count of conspiracy to engage in theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds between 2002 and 2022. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the information alleges that Polen, while working at a nursing home in Lock Haven, PA, agreed with an unnamed physician to be paid kickback payments. The physician reported to Polen, who ran the workers’ compensation program for the nursing home. Polen hired the physician for this role on the condition that the physician would have to pay half of his salary from the nursing home to Polen each month, through a company that Polen set up called Paul D. Polen, Inc. Polen made his own wife the president of this company in name only.
The physician agreed to this arrangement, which required, at most, a few hours of work per month from the physician. The physician’s responsibilities also included evaluating Polen’s own workers’ compensation claims, which resulted in Polen working a reduced schedule for the same compensation from the nursing home. The physician then proceeded to pay Polen between approximately $1,700 and $2,500 per month for a period of about twenty years. In order to conceal these payments, Polen and the physician regularly exchanged payment at the physician’s home rather than at the workplace. In total, it is alleged that Polen and the physician conspired to embezzle, steal, obtain by fraud, and misapply approximately $528,450 from the nursing home.
