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Boynton Beach Sober Home Scammer Gets 71 Months in Prison

Carter Care Recovery, now defunct, was one of three sober living facilities in Boynton Beach operated by Albert Jones
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Carter Care Recovery, now defunct, was one of three sober living facilities in Boynton Beach operated by Albert Jones

Authorities in South Florida have charged more than 60 sober home and drug treatment center operators with health care fraud over the past year and a half.

 

On Thursday, 27-year-old Albert Jones of Boynton Beach was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution.

 Listen to the audio version of this story here.

Between 2014 and 2016, Jones referred more than 100 residents of his Palm Beach County sober living facilities to a bogus drug treatment center in exchange for illegal kickbacks. That facility then bilked patients’ insurance policies by charging for unnecessary urine and saliva tests.

 

Court records show Jones gave residents free rent, money and drugs to keep the scheme going. Jones’ collaborator, Kenny Chatman, was convicted for his role in the fraud in May, and sentenced to 27 years.

 

Copyright 2018 WLRN 91.3 FM

Peter Haden is an award-winning investigative reporter and photographer currently working with The Center for Investigative Reporting. His stories are featured in media outlets around the world including NPR, CNN en Español, ECTV Ukraine, USA Today, Qatar Gulf Times, and the Malaysia Star.