Two arrests have been made in an alleged conspiracy to defraud state Medicaid out of tens of thousands of dollars in claims. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange on Thursday announced the arrest of 34-year-old Sonia Judd Coleman, of Bessemer, on four counts of filing false claims with the Alabama Medicaid Agency and one count of first-degree theft of property.
Thursday’s arrest comes a day after 68-year-old Bessemer pharmacist Alan Connell was arrested on the same charges. According to the attorney general’s office, Coleman and Connell have been accused of conspiring to take more than $50,000 from Medicaid by filing false claims for prescription drugs for the woman’s terminally ill child.
A review of the pharmacist’s records allegedly revealed that Connell did not have enough of the medication in stock to dispense the amount he billed the Alabama Medicaid Agency, according to the attorney general’s office. Connell and Coleman could face up to 40 years in prison and fines for the five felony charges.