AG Sunday’s MFCS ranked No. 3 in charges filed nationwide
HARRISBURG – Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the release of an annual report that ranks his office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section at No. 1, nationally, in criminal convictions, and third overall in charges filed against those who steal from Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program which provides limited-income and vulnerable populations with access to healthcare.
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section, housed in the Office of Attorney General, prosecutes those who defraud the program through unlawful billing or failure to provide services. The Medicaid Fraud Control Section also prosecutes those who neglect or abuse Pennsylvanians most dependent on their care, and those who financially exploit older adults or care-dependent persons.
During the 2025 federal fiscal year, the section recovered more than $41 million in misused Medicaid funding, most through criminal prosecutions. During that same year, the section filed new charges in 115 cases, and secured convictions in 115 cases — which were filed last year or in previous years.
“Our Medicaid Fraud Control Section continues to charge and successfully prosecute violators of the taxpayer-funded program at rates that top nearly all of our national peers,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Our commitment to exposing waste, fraud, and abuse will not stop. Medicaid is a life-supporting and life-saving program for vulnerable Pennsylvanians — and those intended beneficiaries are harmed most by fraudsters and abusers.”
The report, released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, highlights that Medicaid Fraud units across the country recover $4.64 for every $1 spent by the units.
Some highlights of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s work to combat Medicaid Fraud:
ComfortZone Leaders Plead Guilty in Montgomery County
Stephanie Mobley, owner of ComfortZome Home Health Care, and two office managers — Naya Campbell and Barbara Thomas — recently pleaded guilty to felony charges for submitting $1.76 million in false reimbursements to Medicaid.
Campbell and Thomas were sentenced to incarceration. Mobley is awaiting sentencing. A total of 19 defendants related to ComfortZone (including the company itself) have pleaded guilty. Of those, 14 have been sentenced and five others are awaiting sentencing. Two more charged defendants are awaiting trials.
Lawrence County Administrator Convicted of Felony Neglect
Kelly R. Gonzales, a personal care administrator in Lawrence County, was convicted by a jury of felonies regarding failure to renew a resident’s medications, which led to a fatal seizure in 2021. Gonzales is awaiting sentencing.
Surnil Pharmacy Conviction in $2.3M HIV Med Fraud
A Philadelphia pharmacy business entity was ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution after pleading guilty to felony Medicaid Fraud and theft charges related to the dispensing of unregulated HIV medications.
The business entity, Surnil Pharmacy, Inc. — which had a West Girard Avenue store location, Haussemann’s Pharmacy — paid $2.3 million to Medicare and Medicaid in a court-ordered restitution.
The Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Section investigation revealed that HIV medications — an estimated 100,000 tablets — dispensed from the pharmacy were not from legitimate wholesale suppliers.
Leaders of Broad Street Family Pharmacy in Phila. Jailed for $12M Fraud
The two leaders of a $12 million Medicaid Fraud scheme involving Broad Street Family Pharmacy in South Philadelphia pleaded guilty and were sentenced to state prison for billing expensive medications to Medicaid and Medicare — even though very little of the medications were actually acquired and disbursed at the pharmacy.
An Office of Attorney General-led collaborative investigation resulted in prison sentences for Peter Dello Buono — who managed daily operations — and Frank Bengermino, the in-store pharmacist.
Seven other employees and associates of the pharmacy were also convicted of Medicaid Fraud and related offenses in the scheme. In total, over $12 million in restitution was recovered for the Medicaid and Medicare programs from this investigation and prosecution.
Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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 $13,491,632 for federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $4,497,207 for FY 2026, is funded by Pennsylvania.
# # #