PROVIDENCE – Brian Mooney, of Lincoln, was ordered to repay nearly $21,800 in restitution after pleading no contest to charges that alleged he falsified timecards and bank records when he worked as a manager at a group home for adults with developmental disabilities, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Tuesday.
Mooney appeared in Kent County Superior Court on Tuesday and pleaded nolo contedere to one count of Medicaid fraud and seven counts of exploitation of adults with severe impairments before Superior Court Magistrate John F. McBurney III.
He was given a five-year deferred sentence and ordered to repay $21,797.61 in restitution to the State of Rhode Island. Prosecutions had recommended a sentence of 18 months in prison at the Adult Correctional Institutions in addition to paying the entire restitution.
“Plain and simple, the defendant’s conduct here was outrageous,” said Neronha. “He not only cheated the Medicaid system out of thousands of dollars but stole from and betrayed the trust of some of our most vulnerable residents. My office will continue our efforts to hold accountable individuals who, like the defendant here, divert the all-too-limited available Medicaid dollars from Rhode Islanders who need it.”
If the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove that between June 2017 and June 2019, Mooney committed Medicaid fraud while employed as a program manager at Spurwink|RI and exploited several adults with developmental disabilities while he was working at the South Country Trail Group Home in East Greenwich.
During that time, Neronha’s office said, Mooney submitted falsified time sheets for hours he claimed to have worked at the home, but had spent much of his time gambling at Twin River Casino and going to a local coffee shop to browse the web.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com. You may also follow her on Twitter at @AlexaGagosz.
