Bolingbrook woman ordered to repay over $2.2 million for Medicaid fraud

A Bolingbrook woman has been ordered to repay more than $2.2 million to the state for defrauding it of more than $2.46 million in Medicaid funds.

LaTeena Smith, 38, was also sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison.

Smith pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Dec. 5 to managed health care fraud, according to DuPage County court records.

Smith paid $1.5 million of the restitution after sentencing, and a civil judgment for the remainder due was entered.

“Thousands of Illinois residents rely on Medicaid for their health care, and this sentence should send a clear message that anyone who defrauds Illinois’ Medicaid program will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a press release.

Smith owned Power Positive Youth Development, a clinic located in Bolingbrook. From June 2021 to February 2023, Smith submitted fraudulent bills for psychotherapy services she did not provide to recipients of Medicaid managed care. According to Raoul’s office, Smith billed Molina Healthcare for over $978,000 and Meridian Health for over $1.5 million.

She was charged in August 2023.

Theft and forgery charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

The case was investigated by Raoul’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — Office of Inspector General, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services — Office of Inspector General, and the Illinois State Police.