South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that his office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (SCMFCU) has arrested Darrian Justin Love, 26 years old, of Hartsville, SC, for Medical Assistance Provider Fraud, which constitutes a violation of SC Code §43-07-0060. Love was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on January 25, 2022.
An SCMFCU investigation revealed that between June 1, 2019, and January 1, 2020, Love knowingly caused false claims for payment to be filed with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services by submitting fraudulent service notes for the counseling of children. These notes were then used to bill the SC Medicaid program for services that Love never provided to Medicaid beneficiaries in the Florence area of South Carolina.
Medical Assistance Provider Fraud is a Class A misdemeanor and, upon conviction, has a penalty of imprisonment of not more than three years and a fine of not more than one thousand dollars for each offense.
Pursuant to federal regulations, the SCMFCU has authority over Medicaid provider fraud; abuse and neglect of Medicaid beneficiaries in any setting; and the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of individuals residing in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.
Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
The SCMFCU receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $1,927,636 for the Federal fiscal year 2022. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $642,544 for FY 2022, is funded by South Carolina.