The owner of a taxi cab company in the Hudson Valley is accused of stealing over $200,000 from Medicaid.

On Wednesday, New York State Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced the arrest and arraignment of Richard Quitoni, 29, of Middletown. Quitoni, the owner and operator of Quitoni Transportation, Inc., is accused of stealing over $200,000 from Medicaid by submitting false claims for medical transportation services.

“Transportation for beneficiaries is a critical piece of the Medicaid program ensuring access to quality healthcare – especially for those that live in rural areas and have to travel long distances to the nearest healthcare provider,” Underwood said.

In court papers filed in Wallkill Town Court in Orange County, the Attorney General alleges that from August 30, 2013, to October 1, 2017, Quitoni submitted false claims seeking inflated levels of payment from Medicaid by submitting individual mileage claims for each Medicaid recipient traveling together in the same vehicle, instead of submitting claims for mileage incurred in one trip as required by Medicaid rules and regulations.

Medicaid reimburses group trips at a lower amount than individual trips because the cost to providers is lower than the cost of transporting each recipient individually, officials say.

Quitoni is also accused of increasing the amount of Medicaid reimbursement for tolls, claiming the maximum amount of $50 in toll expenses to Medicaid.

There are no $50 tolls in New York and no combination of tolls on trips that his vehicles made, when aggregated, could have totaled $50, according to the attorney general's office.

Quitoni was charged with grand larceny and multiple counts of offering a false instrument for filing, a felony.

If convicted of the top count, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 5 to 15 years.

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