Pediatrician gets 3-year prison sentence for Medicaid fraud

NEWARK -- A Newark pediatrician was sentenced to three years in prison for billing Medicaid for 24-hour work days on multiple occasions when her office was only open for eight hours, authorities said Monday.

Dr. Ibilola Ighama-Amegor, 55, was also ordered to pay $216,000 in restitution when sentenced Friday by Judge Michael Petrolle in state Superior Court in Newark, New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino said in a statement.

"Dr. Amegor used her medical degree as a license to steal from a program that pays for medical care for the elderly and those who can't afford health insurance," Porrino said. "She doesn't belong in the medical profession; she belongs in prison, which is right where she's going."

In June, an Essex County jury found Ighama-Amegor guilty of 48 counts of health care claims fraud and a single count of Medicaid fraud, all third degree charges. She was found not guilty of theft by deception a second degree crime.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/08/essex_pediatrician_gets_3-year_sentence_for_medica.html