Columbus, Ohio (again): Fishy Refugee Story Used to Bash Trump

02/05/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

Religion News Service has published a lengthy and whiney report on the status of the US Refugee Admissions Program under the Trump Administration. It is a useful summary in some ways of where the refugee industry is these days.

Screenshot (863) — Daycare worker Khadra Abdo wants to bring her five grown children to the US!

But, don’t be fooled, all of the federal contractors are still in place and still being funded. They have simply hunkered down to wait Trump out.
The story (hat tip: Joanne) is an excuse to bash Trump, but is interesting as it begins with a refugee sob story (as they all do because the Left loves stories!), that raised some questions for me about how this Columbus, Ohio Somali woman got into the US in the first place.
And, one more thing! Just because the word “religion” is in the name of this publication that doesn’t mean it is a religious publication! It is a media source with a Leftist spin for news that might eventually appear in places like the Washington Post.

Two years after Trump’s travel ban, faith-based refugee groups struggle

“My first thought is that I hope they are safe today, and that stays on my mind throughout the whole day,” Abdo told Religion News Service through an interpreter provided by Church World Service.
The 40-year-old Muslim mother of seven was separated from her five oldest children from a first marriage nearly 12 years ago when she and her second husband fled civil war twice — first in Somalia, then in Libya. When they arrived in Columbus, Ohio, as asylum seekers in 2012, she filed a request for her four teenaged daughters and one son, living with her 75-year-old mother in Ethiopia, to join her through World Relief.
Seven years later, she is still waiting. And the World Relief office that once helped her has been closed.
That closure in 2017 was a “direct result” of President Trump’s executive order to cut the number of refugees resettled that year in the United States, World Relief said at the time.

reporter emily miller — Reporter Emily Miller

Do these young reporters have no curiosity? Here is what I want to know:
First, why did she have to leave her children behind in Ethiopia? And now nearly grown up, aren’t they safe in Ethiopia? Wouldn’t Abdo be safe in Ethiopia with grandma and the five kids.
If she came to the US as an asylum seeker, that means she actually got in to the US with her present hubby (or at least we presume hubby is with her) and was not screened and admitted as a regular refugee. Did she come across our southern or northern border?
Did she go through the asylum system and was she granted refugee status?
And, heck, why would you try to run to Libya in the first place? Were they planning to break into Europe across the Mediterranean?
We have been told she has been here seven years, but still needs an interpreter?
Religion News continues…

Abdo now is pursuing her case through Community Refugee and Immigration Services, Church World Service’s refugee and immigration office in Columbus.
She talks “constantly” on the phone with her children in Ethiopia, she said through an interpreter. She works at a daycare and cares for her two youngest children, one born at a refugee camp in Libya and the other in the United States.
But, she said, “It is very hard and very difficult for a mother to be separated from her kids every day.” [What the hell, she left her kids behind 12 years ago!—ed]
In the meantime, Abdo is studying for her U.S. citizenship exam, which she hopes to pass this month.

This month! She can’t even speak English!
Religion News might have chosen a better star for their story!
See my earlier post today about a Columbus fraudster (from Abdo’s ‘community?) going to jail!

I’ve been tagging posts by the state where the fraud, crime, whatever, happened. I’m thinking Ohio might be taking the prize so far! What is up with Ohio?

Ohio 'Man' Sentenced for Allowing Criminals to Work in Home Health Care Business

02/05/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

hands behind bars — The story is illustrated like this because there is apparently no photo of the scammer.

Nothing annoys me more than a story like this with no photo of the convicted ‘man’ named Ali Jama.
So I’m making an educated guess that since he lives in Columbus, Ohio***, the city with the second largest Somali population in America and that the name is a common Somali name, that he is Somali!
Someone who knows Ali Jama can tell me I’m wrong. I will be waiting!

Here is a bit of the story (STL News), taken directly from the Dept. of Justice press release on this fraudster.

OHIO NEWS: COLUMBUS, ALI JAMA, COLUMBUS HOME HEALTH CARE PROVIDER SENTENCED FOR FRAUD

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The co-owner of Alpha Star Health Care Inc. was sentenced today in federal court to 18 months in prison for running home health care fraud and tax fraud schemes.
Ali Jama, 50, of Columbus, pleaded guilty in September 2018 to one count of making false health care statements and one count of making false statements to the IRS.
[….]
According to court documents, Alpha, which was located on Westerville Road in Columbus, was a Medicare and Ohio Medicaid health care provider. In 2015 and 2016, Jama improperly billed Medicare and Medicaid by allowing unqualified health care aides to provide care.
Jama billed for services by disqualified individuals, whose criminal backgrounds prohibited them from providing direct care; and billed for services by untrained home health aides.
Further, Jama provided false documents to his tax preparer, claiming $0 in taxable income for 2013 and 2014. In fact, his taxable income for those years was approximately $167,000 and $301,000 respectively. As a result, the IRS sustained a loss of approximately $126,000 in tax liability.

Continue reading for more on his tax scams. Then check this out—a bunch of verbiage about how bad his crimes were and how “just” his sentence of 18 months is!

Ohio Republican AG Yost: His sentence is “just.”

“The public rightfully expects and trusts that those who provide health care services are competent and qualified”, said Lamont Pugh III, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General – Chicago Region. “The utilization of unqualified personnel coupled with the billing of federally funded health care programs for their services puts a patient’s health and safety at risk, and wastes taxpayer dollars. The OIG along with our federal and state partners will continue to identify and hold accountable those who choose to engage in this type of criminal activity.”
[….]
“This is a deliberate, coldhearted violation of the public trust,” Ohio Attorney General Yost said. “This joint investigation and prosecution was equally deliberate, and the sentence is just.”

What do you think? Is 18 months behind bars “just?” And, what are the odds he will be paying restitution amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars! Maybe “just” would be deportation back to his homeland!

***If you are new to Frauds and Crooks, see (in my Welcome post) that a film being produced about the joys of diversity in Columbus, Ohio helped inspire me to undertake this new project!
Even if you are a subscriber and read my posts on your phone or in e-mails, visit occasionally (click here) for more information. For example, see “Trending” in the right hand side bar? Those are the posts that are the most popular with readers in recent days.

Florida: Indian-American Pain Doctor Sentenced in Medicare Fraud Case

02/04/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

Last week 66-year-old Jayam Krishna Iyer was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to repay $52,000 in false claims for Medicare reimbursement after years of dispensing dangerous pain meds to patients she didn’t even see!

Dr. Iyer leaves court — Dr. Iyer leaving court last September after admitting guilt. Expressed no remorse! https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/investigations/clearwater-pain-doctor-admits-to-medicare-fraud-and-surrenders-license/1457146533

What is up with these Indian doctors, we recently had another story of an Indian pain doctor in Michigan, see here.
From News India:

Indian-American doctor in Florida sentenced to prison for fraud

An Indian-American doctor in Clearwater, Florida was sent to prison Jan. 30, after being convicted for health care fraud.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced Jayam Krishna Iyer, 66, to six months in federal prison for committing health care fraud, and ordered Iyer to forfeit more than $52,000 in health care fraud proceeds. He also ordered her to pay restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
In addition, the court ordered Iyer to forfeit her Florida medical license, permanently excluding her from participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. And, Iyer agreed to surrender her Drug Enforcement Agency registration number, which had been used to prescribe controlled substances, and not to reapply for a DEA registration number for at least 20 years.
According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney for Middle District of Florida, based on court documents, Iyer owned and operated Creative Medical Center, on Druid Road East in Clearwater. The center functioned as a pain management clinic; Iyer conducted office visits and wrote prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl.
Beginning in July 2011 and continuing through December 2017, Iyer carried out a scheme to defraud Medicare by billing for face-to-face office visits with Medicare and Medicaid patients, when, in fact, certain patients had not gone to Iyer’s office and had not been examined by her on the claimed dates, prosecutors found.
Instead, family members of patients had visited Iyer’s office, where she issued prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone, to the family members in the patients’ names. Iyer thereby violated a Florida law requiring doctors to perform an in-person office visit and examination of each patient before issuing Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions.

More here.
Some additional information on Dr. Iyer is here at Tampa’s WFLA in September when she admitted her guilt.

Clearwater pain doctor admits to medicare fraud and surrenders license

On Aug. 31, Dr. Iyer signed an agreement with federal prosecutors in Tampa admitting guilt to one felony count of Medicare fraud that will cost her at least $51,000 in restitution in addition to giving up her medical career. She also faces a possible fine of up to $250,000 and as much as 10 years in prison.
Iyer did not express any remorse before, during or after the hearing, but in court freely admitted to stealing from taxpayers through Medicare fraud for a period of at least six years in her practice at the Creative Heath Center located at 1210 Druid Road in Clearwater.
[….]
After a public records request, the Pinellas Medical Examiner sent 8 On Your Side an eight-page list of drugs prescribed by Iyer , including fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone and dilaudid, that turned up in various Medical Examiner investigations of suspicious deaths.
None of those ME cases resulted in a criminal prosecution of Iyer. She has also faced six malpractice lawsuits filed in Pinellas civil court according to court records.
[….]
The physician who earned her medical degree in India said she is a U.S. citizen so she does not face a threat of deportation for her felony conviction.

Go here for the rest of the story and to see the news clip.

I think we have a tendency to think doctors are caring and compassionate and most of all not scammers, but these cases of medical doctors, often ‘new American’ medical doctors, and their involvement in fueling America’s prescription drug epidemic are starting to pile up. I think they need more publicity so that maybe more of you will be able to identify these frauds in your own communities. Where is the national media?

Judicial Watch: USDA Dragging its Feet in War on Food Stamp Fraud

02/04/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 11 Comments

Thanks to reader Diana for spotting this news at Judicial Watch which uses the shockingly awful Ohio food stamp fraud bust I reported, here in late January, to say that the feds are taking way too long and the penalties aren’t stiff enough to deter this massive fraud.

They cite the case of the Ohio father and son who ripped off US taxpayers for nearly $3 million and also polluted a local waterway with “bodily fluids” from an illegal halal slaughter business—a story that everyone should continue to send out on social media (use the JW post this time!).

Food Stamp Fraud on the Rise as Government Allows “Retailer Trafficking”

Weeks after a federal audit blasted the government for failing to curb rampant fraud in its multi-billion-dollar food stamp program, two Ohio men have been indicted for operating a $2.7 million scheme that spanned six years. One of the men, 59-year-old Amin Salem, is a convicted felon with a history of food stamp fraud yet the feds took six years to bust him and he remained a qualified food stamp retailer. The other man, Mohamed Salem, is his 32-year-old son and federal prosecutors say they operated a highly lucrative food stamp trafficking ring in the Cleveland area with the help of a buddy named Zahran al-Qadan.
[….]

Though this operation sticks out among others, Food stamp fraud has been pervasive for years and the alarming numbers have been well documented by the government. The USDA’s most recent figures show about $1.1 billion in food stamp fraud a year. Nearly 12% of retailers authorized by the government to accept food stamps engage in illegal practices, according to the agency. Judicial Watch has reported extensively on the rampant fraud in the program that costs American taxpayers a bewildering $64 billion annually to provide more than 20 million households with free food. Less than a year ago, nearly 200 people were arrested in Florida for operating a sophisticated ring in which 22,000 fraudulent food stamp transactions totaling $3.7 million were documented by a task force of local and federal authorities. In 2016 the feds busted the largest food stamp fraud operation in history, a $13 million enterprise run by flea market retailers in the largely black and Hispanic areas of south Florida’s Miami-Dade County known as Opa-Locka and Hialeah.
[….]
A USDA division called Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) is responsible for rooting out the type of fraud and corruption that continue plaguing the food stamp program.
“As of November 2018, FNS had not implemented this authority,” according to congressional investigators. “By failing to take timely action to strengthen penalties, FNS has not taken full advantage of an important tool for deterring trafficking.”

Go to JW here for the whole story and to follow links for more information.

Do you have a suspicious convenience store or small gas nation near you that accepts food stamps? Keep an eye on their activities. Some signs of a possible on-going fraud include large numbers of people going in and out every day with few purchases (if any!) when they come out. Also look for poorly, or nearly bare shelves as a sign that selling groceries is not a priority.

See this earlier post that includes information about the GAO study.

Minneapolis: Open Borders Agitators Organized and Active

02/03/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 7 Comments

On January 24th, a Minneapolis government employee led a public forum entitled “Immigrant Moral Witness, Moral Action.”
I’m posting this for a couple of reasons. First, to show you once again how the Open Borders (really I should call them No Borders) activists are working to control the language. The implication is that if you don’t agree with them, you are somehow immoral!
And, of course they are again trying to get the media and you to think about all immigrants (legal and illegal) as “New Americans.”
But, more importantly I want you to see that they are organized and have tips for the types of actions they want citizens to take. Are you getting organized?
From the MinnPost:

10 things you can do right now to help immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and beyond

Rivero works for the taxpayers of Minneapolis at the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/ncr/oira/index.htm

At last week’s “Immigrant Moral Witness, Moral Action” forum at First Universalist Church of Minneapolis, Michelle Rivero wrapped up her presentation by talking about the importance of speaking out with love. Given her experience as an immigration attorney and as Minneapolis’ first-ever director of the newly created Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA), Rivero said it was an emotional but necessary bit of information shared amid the rest of the night’s topics. Rivero expanded on her comments for MinnPost, and provided some nuts-and-bolts information for anyone interested in helping out in the face of how the federal government is treating asylum seekers and would-be new Americans.
[….]
“I strongly feel that if you are advocating for a position, it’s important to do so with sincerity, with honesty, with humility. If an issue is very important to you, and obviously immigration is very important to me, I think the more that we can all do to convince people of why the path that we feel we should be on is the right path, the better off we’ll be as a society. And I think when you do that with sincerity, even people who disagree with you, you can find commonalities with.

Now here (below) are Rivero’s ten tips for Minnesotan Open Borders activists. (It isn’t just more Somalis they are looking for!).
Read the whole MinnPost article for details because it will give you information you can use if your goal is to see immigration to the US (and to Minnesota) brought under control. Knowledge is power!
1. Give money to organizations and causes.
2. Be a vocal advocate for the causes you support.
3. Support an organization working to provide support to asylum seekers at the border
4. Pay immigration bonds.
5. Learn about what your city is doing regarding immigration-related issues and ask how you can partner.
6. Send local immigration attorneys to the border.
7. Support the work of Clues and other social service organizations.
8. Be informed on immigration issues and issues that touch immigrants.
9. Support MIRAC (Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee).
10. Support Release MN8.
Read it all, here.

It is one thing to read news on the internet and to watch cable news, but are you talking to those around you and getting politically organized? They are!