BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Hartford woman waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Friday in Bridgeport to health care fraud while agreeing to pay $1,001,058 in restitution to the Connecticut Medicaid program, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Thelma “Wendy” Epps, 59, faces the charge. She was a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor, or LADC, with an office located at 330 Main St. in Hartford, court documents and statements revealed. Epps enrolled as a participating provider in the Medicaid program in 2013 along with the entity “Miracles to Destiny LLC.”
Prosecutors say that in July 2018, the Medicaid program suspended Epps from participating as a provider after discovering a credible allegation of fraud. Medicaid informed Epps that any attempt to submit claims for services she or “Miracles to Destiny LLC” performed through other agencies or billing numbers would result in termination of her provider agreement.
In 2019, according to prosecutors, Epps entered into an agreement with Dennis Tomczak, a Connecticut LADC who was a participating provider in Medicaid. The two agreed that Tomczak would bill Medicaid using his Medicaid provider number for psychotherapy counseling services that were ostensibly provided by Epps.
Furthermore, prosecutors say the false claims represented that Tomczak personally provided the services and, in exchange for Tomczak billing the services, Epps agreed to pay him 25% of the amount Medicaid paid.
From around April 2019 to November 2022, Medicaid paid Tomczak $330,547 for fraudulent claims for services provided by Epps that were billed under his provider number. During the scheme, prosecutors say Tomczak expressed concerns to Epps about the number and frequency of services that Epps told him she was providing.
Around this time, Epps entered into a similar agreement with another Connecticut LADC, Shawn Tyson, who would use his Medicaid provider number to submit claims to Medicaid for services Epps provided to Medicaid clients.
In November 2019, Epps helped Tyson enroll as a participating provider in Medicaid. Prosecutors say that Tyson’s provider application named the location where Tyson would provide services as 330 Main St., third floor, in Hartford, which was the location of the office for Epps and “Miracles to Destiny LLC.”
When Tyson was enrolled as a Medicaid provider, he gave Epps his login information to an online portal for submitting claims to Medicaid, which prosecutors say Epps then used to submit claims. They add that for a brief period before Tyson was enrolled as a Medicaid provider, unknown to Tomczak, Epps submitted claims through his provider number for services said to be provided by Tyson by representing to Tomczak that she performed the services.
According to prosecutors, Medicaid paid Tomczak $7,879 for these services.
When Epps and Tyson schemed together, prosecutors say Tyson would give Epps the names of Medicaid patients and dates that Tyson “purportedly” provided psychotherapy counseling services to patients. Epps would then bill Medicaid for these services using Tyson’s provider number and submit claims using Tyson’s provider number for services she said were provided to Medicaid patients. The claims falsely represented that Tyson had provided services to patients himself.
Epps and Tyson submitted and caused to be submitted claims for hundreds of thousands of dollars of psychotherapy services that neither individual actually provided to Medicaid clients. Prosecutors say that when Epps warned Tyson that she should not bill Medicaid for having provided psychotherapy services to patients on holidays, he would then change the dates of services and resubmit the list.
Medicaid reportedly paid Tyson $663,081 for claims falsely representing that he provided services personally and other services that Epps and Tyson said had been provided that weren’t provided at all.
Epps will be sentenced on Jan. 31, 2025, and faces going to jail for up to 10 years. She is currently released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
Prosecutors note that Tomczak and Tyson have also pleaded guilty to related charges and are awaiting sentencing.
The investigation was led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Connecticut Department of Social Services.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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