Business owners charged in fraud

Three defendants’ businesses are in Niles, two are in Struthers, and one in Brecksville.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A federal grand jury has indicted the owners of six businesses that transport patients in vans equipped for wheelchairs and charged them with health care fraud.

William J. Edwards, acting U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio, said the 22-count indictment charges the six with mail fraud, wire fraud, health care fraud and conspiracy to commit those same offenses in the transportation of Medicaid beneficiaries in specially designed vehicles called ambulettes. Those charged are:

UOsman E. Yousef (aka Osman E. Yousis), 46, of Struthers, owner of On Time Transportation, 427 Fifth St., Struthers. He was declared indigent, received a court-appointed lawyer and was released on $20,000 unsecured bond. On Time claimed Medicaid payments of $323,443 from September 2004 to the present.

UMudar A.M. Ismail (aka Mudar I. Mohamed), 37, of Girard, owner of Nobility Express Transportation, 106 Robbins Ave., Suite 3, Niles. He was declared indigent, received a court-appointed lawyer and was released on $20,000 unsecured bond. Nobility claimed payments of $147,149 from April 2007 to the present.

URabie Ali, 51, of Niles, owner of EZ Transportation, 106 Robbins Ave., Suite 7, Niles. He was declared indigent, received a court-appointed lawyer and remains in custody pending trial. EZ submitted claims of $46,704 from June 2007 to the present.

UOsama E. Abdalla, 46, of Brookpark, owner of Elite Express Transportation, 10117 Brecksville Road, Suite A1, Brecksville. He was declared indigent, received a court-appointed lawyer and was released on $20,000 unsecured bond. He relinquished two passports, one for the Republic of Sudan and one U.S. Elite claimed payments of $2,487 from September 2006 to the present.

UAmir Balla Elamin, 38, of Niles, owner of Niles Transportation, 106 Robbins Ave., Suite 4, Niles. No record of his initial court appearance as of Friday. Niles Transportation submitted claims of $342,575 from March 2007 to the present.

UElsiddig Elfaki, 44, of Struthers, owner of Town Jet Transportation, 2906 Lincoln St., Struthers. He was declared indigent, received a court-appointed lawyer and was released on $20,000 unsecured bond. Town Jet submitted claims of $114,854 from September 2006 to the present.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. in Cleveland federal court. Five of the six defendants made their initial appearance before Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert in Youngstown federal court.

Medicaid provides medical insurance coverage for the poor and is administered in Ohio by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Federal funds pay for 60 percent of the benefits; Ohio pays for the balance.

Ambulette service providers contract with the Ohio Medicaid program to transport wheelchair patients. Medicaid pays ambulette operators for driving Medicaid beneficiaries to and from appointments so long as the patient rides in a wheelchair; a medical doctor certifies the need for the wheelchair and ambulette; and the ambulette itself meets safety specifications.

The defendants are charged with scheming to defraud Medicaid by charging for rides of patients who did not use wheelchairs. The time frame in the indictment is September 2004 to the present.

The defendants created six companies that appeared on the surface to be distinct but in fact they acted as one ambulette transportation company, the government said. They shared billing information, business/residential addresses, transportation services, patient lists and money.

To create the impression that the beneficiary was receiving ambulette transportation from various providers, the defendants rotated recipients, the government said.

The indictment was the result of an investigation by the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Michael L. Collyer, an assistant U.S. attorney.