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Etienne Allonce, the former co-owner of Medical Solutions Management in Hicksville pleaded guilty in federal court this week in Central Islip to health care fraud.
In September last year, Allonce was expelled from Haiti, where he had fled 11 years ago following the filing of an indictment in the Eastern District of New York charging him with billing Medicare and Medicaid for medical supplies never delivered to patients and never ordered by his company. Before his return to the country, Allonce was placed on the Most Wanted List of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said that Allonce and his wife, Helen Michel, provided durable medical equipment and supplies to nursing homes. Between April 2003 and March 2007, the two submitted approximately $10 million in false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, seeking payment for supplies that were never actually delivered to nursing homes.
Donoghue said that Allonce fled the country hours before federal agents arrested his wife, who was tried and convicted by a jury in 2012. Michel was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $1.3 million that had been seized by the government.
When he is sentenced, Allonce will face up to 10 years in prison and will be forced to pay restitution.
“With today’s guilty plea, Allonce will now pay the price for defrauding American taxpayers in order to benefit himself,” Donoghue stated. “The defendant’s decision to flee to Haiti may have delayed holding him accountable for his crimes, but he could not escape the resolve of this Office and our law enforcement partners to prosecute those who steal from the Medicare and Medicaid benefit programs that serve our most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly.”
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