Linwood woman is 19th to plead guilty in Shore benefits-plan scheme
A 43-year-old Linwood woman became the 19th person to plead guilty in a still-unraveling federal prosecution of a $50 million scheme that saw teachers, firefighters and other municipal employees pocket and pass along cash by conspiring with an out-of-state pharmacy to create a virtual conveyor belt of compound prescription filling.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DHIZJRT6KREJ3PXIR5NSO6ZGHY.jpg)
Tara Lamonaca, a pharmaceutical representative, admitted in federal court in Camden on Wednesday to "using phony claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions to defraud New Jersey state health benefits programs," according to a statement released jointly by U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.
Like the 18 others before her, Lamonaca pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud between January 2015 and April 2016. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The out-of-state pharmacy that filled the prescriptions and passed along a percentage of the reimbursements to organizers at the top of the crime syndicate has still not been publicly identified. The state health benefits program and the school employees benefits program paid out a total of $50 million for the prescriptions, most of which were obtained without a visit to a medical professional. Doctors signed the prescriptions that were already filled out, prosecutors said.
Sentencings of those who have pleaded guilty will begin in July. Shore towns that complied with federal subpoenas have been bracing for indictments since last summer.