Maryland Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Medicaid in a Scheme Involving Personal Care Services

            WASHINGTON – Joseph Tamjong, 51, of Lanham, Maryland, was sentenced today to 20 months in prison for stealing more than $700,000 from the D.C. Medicaid program. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs, of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General for the region that includes Washington, D.C., and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.

            In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper ordered that Tamjong serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. He also ordered him to pay $733,405 in restitution and $396,155 in a forfeiture money judgment. Tamjong pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud on November 28, 2022. 

            Between December 2014 and February 2022, Tamjong was employed as a Personal Care Aide and/or a Participant-Directed Worker providing personal care services to residents of the District of Columbia who needed assistance performing activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of bed, bathing, dressing, and eating. Tamjong submitted false timesheets that claimed he provided these services to Medicaid beneficiaries when, in fact, he did not. Although he committed a bulk of his criminal conduct when he was in the United States, he brazenly caused Medicaid to be billed for approximately 3,400 hours of services that he purportedly provided when he was traveling outside the country. On 156 separate occasions, he claimed he provided 24 hours of services in a single day. In total, he defrauded Medicaid of $733,405, personally receiving at least $395,155 in fraudulent wages from the scheme.

            Since December 2018, 12 former personal care aides have been sentenced in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for defrauding the District’s Medicaid program. 

            The government urges the public to provide tips and assistance to stop health care fraud. If you have information about individuals committing health care fraud, please call the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General hotline at 800- HHS‑TIPS (800 447-8477) or the D.C. Office of the Inspector General at 800-724-TIPS (800 274-8477).

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, and the District of Columbia’s Office of the Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

            The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Michon Tart.