Alabama Psychologist Sharon D. Waltz Sentence to 3 Years Prison for Fraud

February 5, 2021

A former Birmingham-area psychologist has been sentenced for defrauding the Alabama Medicaid Agency of at least $1.5 million.

Sharon D. Waltz, 51, operated Capstone Medical Resources in a number of locations around Alabama, with its primary office in Birmingham. According to the Alabama Attorney General’s office, Waltz billed the Medicaid Agency for counseling services that were never provided.

Waltz was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to repay $1.5 million to the Medicaid Agency by U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor after she pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud for filing false claims to the Alabama Medicaid Agency or individual and group counseling services for at-risk youth.

An investigation was initiated by the Program Integrity Division of the Alabama Medicaid Agency after an audit showed that billings submitted by Capstone for counseling services had increased from $99,000 in 2015 to more than $2 million in 2017. A subsequent investigation was conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Control unit and the Office of Investigations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The investigation determined that most claims submitted by Capstone during 2016 through 2018 were fraudulent.

“Waltz’s actions demonstrated reckless disregard for at-risk youth, and she will now face the consequences of those actions,” U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said. “Today’s sentence represents the relentless commitment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners to protect the resources dedicated to the members of our community that are the most vulnerable, our children.”

Waltz pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicaid in 2019, with another former employee being sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $850,000 in restitution in November.

Source: Tyler Patchen, “Birmingham psychologist sentenced in $1.5M fraud case,” Birmingham Business Journal, Feb. 2, 2021, URL: https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2021/02/02/local-psychologist-sentence-for-fraud.html