Three Clinical Counselors at Daytop Village in Queens Are Charged With Insurance Fraud

DA: Daytop Counselors Filed False Reports

North Country Gazette, 26 of July , 2011 at 4:09 pm

QUEENS—Three clinical counselors at Daytop Village in Far Rockaway, which provides substance abuse treatment to adults and teens, have been charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy and other crimes for allegedly filing false progress reports with the courts on behalf of a patient in exchange for his obtaining for them what they believed to be stolen merchandise.

Kasheen Bolden, 40, of Brooklyn, Claudette Fickling, 60, of Long Island, and Miguel Aviles, 46, of New Jersey, are variously charged with third degree insurance fraud, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, first- and second-degree falsifying business records, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, fifth-degree conspiracy, fourth-degree criminal facilitation, fifth-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property and attempted petit larceny.

If convicted, the defendants each face up to seven years in prison.

Prosecutors said that the three defendants were employed as clinical counselors at Daytop Village’s Adult Intake and Assessment Unit, located at 316 Beach 65th St. in Far Rockaway, Queens. An individual who is sent to Daytop by any Criminal, County, Supreme or District Court in the State of New York initially goes to the Far Rockaway location for assessment and treatment by clinical counselors. Progress reports are then filed with the New York State Unified Court System.

According to the charges, between May 2010 and this month, Bolden, Fickling and Aviles provided unauthorized benefits to a patient – such as not having to stay at the facility, attend therapy sessions or take mandatory urine tests – and filed false progress reports with the court on his behalf in exchange for his obtaining for them what they believed to be stolen merchandise – such as laundry detergent, tools and computers.

Officials said the investigation was continuing. 7-26-11