A Medicaid recipient and a no-show home care aide were arrested today and charged with billing the state for services the aide never provided. The recipient is also accused of taking payments to his mother for care that was not provided.

HECTOR M. ORTIZ, age 37, of Mary Shepard Place, Hartford, and JOSE C. AGOSTO, age 37, whose last known address was O'Connell Drive, East Hartford, were each charged with Larceny in the First Degree by Defrauding A Public Community and Conspiracy To Commit Larceny By Defrauding A Public Community.

According to the arrest warrant affidavits, the two men are accused of submitting time sheets between January 2006 and June 2007 claiming wage payments from the Personal Care Assistance program for hours that Mr. Agosto supposedly worked but actually did not to provide care for Mr. Ortiz, a Medicaid recipient.

Additionally, the warrants allege that Mr. Ortiz submitted time sheets in his mother's name without her knowledge claiming that she had provided care to him that was not in fact provided.

The arrests are the result of an investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney based on a complaint from the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services, which administers the Medicaid program.

The Medicaid-funded PCA program provides funds to disabled adults to hire assistants to provide daily care, thus enabling the client to remain at home instead of being placed in a nursing facility.

The scheme was uncovered when an audit revealed that the men billed and were paid for times when Mr. Ortiz was hospitalized and could not have received in-home care, the warrant states.

Mr. Agosto was paid $3,227 for fraudulent hours, according to the warrant. Additionally, it is alleged that Mr. Ortiz collected $5,300 by submitting false time sheets claiming his mother performed services for him, the warrant alleges.

When confronted by state and federal investigators, Mr. Ortiz admitted that he took the money and paid Mr. Agosto $50 per fraudulent billing to cooperate in the scheme, according to the warrant.

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The charges are felonies carrying a maximum possible prison term of 20 years for each count.

Both were released on promises to appear in Hartford Superior Court, G.A. No. 14, Mr. Ortiz on November 5, 2009, and Mr. Agosto on November 6, 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The Unit is grateful for the assistance it received in this investigation from the Department of Social Services Office of Quality Assurance and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Investigations.