Woman gets prison
in Felix fraud caseA former therapeutic aide
overcharged the state
for her services
A former therapeutic aide who billed the state for $2,000 in services she did not provide was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail.
Susan Puapuaga, 28, was the first person to be indicted last year in an attorney general investigation into fraud by service providers for special-needs children under the Felix consent decree.
Puapuaga pleaded no contest earlier to 10 counts of medical assistance fraud in 2002 involving one child and another two counts of medical assistance fraud and second-degree theft in 2003 involving four other children.
Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish said Puapuaga either represented that she provided the services when she did not, or she billed for services provided to two different children when she worked with one child, referred to as "double billing."
Parrish had requested that Puapuaga serve at least six months in jail. "There needs to be a consequence for intentional, knowing conduct that involved theft," he said.
He also asked that she repay the program provider $2,002 for what she was actually paid for the bogus work and a $30,000 fine -- the approximate amount he said the state paid provider Alaka'i Na Keiki for the false billings.
Alaka'i, which continues to provide behavioral health services to the state departments of Education and Health, has since repaid the state for that amount, Parrish said.
Deputy public defender Walter Rodby said he does not believe his client acted on her own and believes others who worked above her at Alaka'i Na Keiki may also be involved.
During plea negotiations, prosecutors were interested in not only Puapuaga's activities, but those above her, Rodby said.
He said Puapuaga decided against "ratting" against other individuals and took responsibility by pleading without the benefit of a plea agreement.
Parrish would neither confirm nor deny any investigation into other individuals at Alaka'i.
Linda Hufano, executive director at Alaka'i, said she was told by an investigator that the steps that their agency were taking to prevent fraud were appropriate.
"As an agency we have always taken every step we could to ensure our billings were appropriate and accurate."
She disputed the $30,000 amount as "way in excess" of what Alaka'i billed the state for services rendered. The amount was closer to $3,000, Hufano said.
Puapuaga sobbed quietly as she addressed the court. "I ask that you please don't take me away from my kids," she said.
While Circuit Judge Richard Perkins said he was inclined to order she serve one year in jail, he said the attorney general's recommendation of six months was "fair." He also declined to impose a $30,000 fine, saying she was likely unable to pay it.
He ordered Puapuaga to pay restitution totaling $2,002 to Alaka'i Na Keiki and $8,190 to Kmart in an unrelated 1988 theft case. He also ordered her to perform 300 hours of community service upon her release from prison.
Because of the Felix-related convictions, Perkins set aside Puapuaga's earlier no-contest plea in the Kmart case and resentenced her to six months, to be served concurrently. In the Kmart case, Puapuaga was accused of overbilling vendors and embezzling money, said Deputy Prosecutor Leah Takeuchi.