Julia Pitney and Toby Dilworth Win Favorable Sentence for Client Charged with MaineCare Fraud

Two men were sentenced in federal court on Friday, July 16th, for their respective roles as Somali interpreters for mental health providers in a health care fraud conspiracy that defrauded MaineCare out of approximately $1.8 million.

Represented by Drummond Woodsum attorneys Julia Pitney and Toby Dilworth, defendant Garat Osman pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.  After extensive motion practice and a hearing on loss amount, the Court concluded that Osman’s Guideline sentencing range was 18-24 months.

Unlike other defendants in this case, Osman is not an American citizen and will likely face deportation to Somalia after his sentence is served.  He has a wife and two young children who are American citizens and, if deported, he will likely never see them again.

Pitney explained, “Garat was orphaned in Somalia by age 5. He was found in a ditch crowded with dead bodies and adopted by a family that took him to a Kenyan refugee camp, where he lived until he and his adopted family sought asylum in the United States when he was a teenager. Garat has no known family or social network in Somalia.”

After a daylong hearing in U.S. District Court, Chief Judge Jon D. Levy concluded that a sentence of incarceration was unnecessary.  Instead, he sentenced Osman to 3 years of probation and ordered him to repay MaineCare $544,097.78 in restitution.  In sentencing Osman to probation only, Levy said he took into account the possibility of Osman’s deportation back to Somalia.

View media coverage:  

https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/07/17/lewiston-men-sentenced-in-health-care-fraud-scheme/

https://apnews.com/article/business-health-c452e5d95bf86a8aee19c2fcee373919