December 12, 2011
Medicaid Contractor Employee Indicted for Computer Theft
Romona Ferrell-Davis was indicted by a DeKalb County Grand Jury on December 8, 2011 on four counts of Computer Theft (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-93(a)(1)), one count of Computer Invasion of Privacy (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-93(c)) and one count of Identity Fraud (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-121 (a)(1)). Ferrell-Davis was employed at Hewlett-Packard (HP), fiscal intermediary for the Georgia Department of Community Health, the Georgia Medicaid agency, from November 10, 2010 to October 11, 2011.
The indictment charges that on October 7, 2011, and again on October 11, 2011, Ferrell-Davis accessed the Medicaid Management Information System (GAMMIS) at HP and changed the bank routing numbers and account numbers of four Medicaid providers, thereby causing several Medicaid provider payments to be re-routed to pre-paid debit cards she controlled. Ferrell-Davis had applied for one of the pre-paid debit cards in the name of a Medicaid member whose identifying information she also obtained from GAMMIS without authority. She appropriated approximately $8,828,972.75. With the help of the debit card companies, the Georgia Department of Community Health recovered all but $17,533.52.
Computer Theft and Computer Invasion of Privacy are felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.00. Identity Fraud, a felony, carries a penalty of one to ten years in prison and a fine of $100,000.00.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Nancy Allstrom of the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is prosecuting the case for the State of Georgia. The case was investigated by Chief Investigator Cameron Rabbitt and Investigative Auditor Cliff Finney, with the assistance of Criminal Analysts Carmen Staley and Kirste Young.