BALTIMORE, Md. ( DC News Now ) — A judge in Prince George’s County sentenced a former dentist from Montgomery County for stealing millions of dollars from Medicaid.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said Seyed Hamid Tofigh, 57, of Potomac, Md. received the sentence after Tofigh, who was accused of stealing $8.5 million from the Medicaid program, pleaded guilty to charges on Feb. 6.
The charges against him were:
- Defrauding a State Health Plan, the Medicaid program
- Practicing Dentistry Without a License
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Prosecutors said Tofigh defrauded the program by practicing dentistry without a license on Maryland Medicaid recipients and and using the names, provider numbers, and professional credentials of licensed dentists to submit claims. In the majority of cases, the patients were children.
The attorney general’s office explained that the Maryland Medicaid program is a joint federal-state program that gives health care benefits to people who have low incomes. It added that Tofigh received payments for services that were billed fraudulently under the names of four other providers.