(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that the owner of a clinic for special needs children in Cleveland has been sentenced to serve time in jail following her conviction on multiple charges, including grand theft, telecommunication fraud, and Medicaid fraud.
Last week, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Charles Schneider sentenced Aries Cobb, 43, of University Heights, to 120 days in jail after he found her guilty of the charges after a bench trial. She was also ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution to the Ohio Department of Medicaid.
Cobb, the owner of Edu-at-Tech in Cleveland, was found guilty of submitting claims to the Department of Medicaid for medical laboratory testing and speech therapy services that were never provided to 32 school-aged children with learning disabilities.
"This defendant targeted vulnerable, special needs children who could have been receiving legitimate services somewhere else," said Attorney General DeWine.
The defendant promoted her company as a community clinic that provided comprehensive education services, but investigators with the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit found that the clinic provided little more than basic tutoring.
Agents began investigating Cobb after learning that she was submitting a high number of reimbursement claims to Medicaid for laboratory tests, but investigators found no evidence of laboratory records, equipment, or supplies. Several children and their families also testified that they never participated in any medical testing or speech therapy. In fact, the investigation found that instead of receiving education instruction, children spent most days doing chores, playing computer games, and watching movies.
Cobb was ordered to begin serving her sentence on October 7, 2016, and will be on five years of community control immediately following her incarceration.
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