Care agency owner also guilty of defrauding Medicaid of $29K
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a Chester County couple pleaded guilty to felony neglect of a care defendant person regarding their mistreatment of an elderly patient who sustained sepsis, pressure ulcers, and dehydration due to the lack of care.
Bennie Pettway, owner of Connect a Care Network, and her boyfriend at the time, Dante Moore — a personal care provider — pleaded guilty this week in Chester County Court to felony neglect of a care dependent person and conspiracy.
Pettway, 62, also pleaded guilty to felony Medicaid Fraud regarding $29,700 in payments for services not provided — which she is required to pay as restitution. Pettway has served 8½ months in prison, and will spend the first year of her parole on house arrest, to be followed by a period of probation. She will be under court supervision for a total of five years.
Moore, 49, has served two months in prison, and will spend the next four years under court supervision.
Both are prohibited from providing care for a dependent person, and are excluded from the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
The 74-year-old patient died in 2020 (of unrelated medical conditions), after he was dropped off at a hospital, by Moore, who lied about his relation to the man and failed to provide useful information to medical staff.
“The deliberate actions of these caretakers caused this patient to suffer unnecessarily before he passed away,” Attorney General Sunday said. “This case epitomizes how harmful Medicaid Fraud can be to Pennsylvanians who need care and taxpayers who help fund the program.”
The Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section’s investigation showed that, in 2019, the patient was to be receiving care — he was not, as evidenced by pressure ulcers, dehydration, hypoglycemia, rhabdomyolysis, AFIB, and sepsis.
Moore dropped off the man, unconscious, at a hospital, and claimed to be the man’s nephew, before quickly leaving. The patient received emergency care at the hospital.
The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Mark Levenberg of the Medicaid Fraud Control Section.
The Pennsylvania Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $12,839,940 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $4,279,979 for FY 2025, is funded by Pennsylvania.
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