A Georgia man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for defrauding Arizona’s Medicaid system, known as AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System).
Kenneth Terrell Harrison, 45, from College Park, Georgia, received a 52-month prison sentence and three years of supervised release on Monday. He was also ordered to pay restitution exceeding $6.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Harrison owned Aurtism, LLC, an outpatient mental health therapy provider based in Mesa, Arizona. When applying to AHCCCS in 2019, Harrison concealed his ownership due to concerns his criminal record would disqualify him.
In 2020, Harrison obtained AHCCCS identification numbers for certain Medicaid participants—some legitimate, others not—primarily within the American Indian Health Plan. Harrison’s company then fraudulently billed AHCCCS for services never rendered, resulting in a scam totaling $6,538,485.09.
