(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that a Columbus man convicted of aggravated theft must now repay more than $100,000 to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Timothy Horton sentenced Marc Cox, of Canal Winchester, to five years of community control last week and ordered him to pay $166,000 in restitution after billing ODJFS for services he did not provide or was not certified to provide.
"We have so many honest, hard-working health care providers in Ohio, but we are out there every day tracking down the people who only want to scam the system," said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
Investigators found that Cox, who was not an authorized care provider, billed the ODJFS for services for the developmentally disabled by using the provider information of the Parrish Foundation, a non-profit organization in Columbus. Cox had previous experience as an independent provider, but his agreement with the state was revoked after a domestic violence conviction.
Cox was also billing the state for more services than he actually provided to the Parrish Foundation's developmentally disabled clients.
"The suspect would drop off the individuals at a house to watch TV and play video games," said DeWine. "We even found that he would take them to bars and strip clubs and then turn around and bill the state for the time they spent there."
Investigators said Cox billed as if he was providing one on one care, when he was actually treating the individuals as a group. He maintained no records and sometimes billed the state for more than 24 hours in a day.
If Cox violates his community control, he faces up to a year in prison.