Kokomo taxi cab company’s owner gets probation in fraud case

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) – The owner of a central Indiana taxi cab company has been sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to federal Medicaid fraud charges.

A federal judge also ordered Kokomo Cab owner Gene Lawman on Friday to pay about $159,000 in restitution to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Indiana’s Medicaid program.

The Kokomo Tribune reports that the restitution will reimburse those agencies for the full amount Lawman was accused of receiving as a result of paying cash to Medicaid beneficiaries.

Court documents show that Lawman signed agreements in July 2012 enrolling Kokomo Cab as a transportation provider with Indiana’s Medicaid program.

Through those agreements his company received payments for transporting Medicaid beneficiaries to and from locations providing certain covered treatments.