Raleigh woman pleads guilty in Medicaid fraud case

Gloria J. Sawyer, 54, pleaded guilty Monday to five counts of obtaining property by false pretense. She was sentenced to 16 to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $483,791 in restitution to the state Medicaid program.

Sawyer was one of nine North Carolina health care providers arrested last December as part of a statewide Medicaid fraud sweep. Investigators determined that she concealed her criminal history to obtain a Medicaid provider number for I Believe in Miracles, which handles health care for Medicaid recipients infected with HIV, and that she didn't provide many of the services for which she was paid.

Investigators discovered a system of fraud in which Sawyer directed employees to create false documents and to back-date service notes in an attempt to conceal the fraud.

“Medicaid cheaters harm needy patients, waste tax dollars and contribute to rising health care costs,” Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement. “This case is a prime example of the fraud and abuse our investigators and prosecutors are attacking.”