Main Line Home Care Medicaid Fraud Scheme Lands Woman Prison Time

BALA CYNWYD, PA — The former office manager of a Main Line home care agency will spend time in prison after authorities said she participated in a $1.76-million Medicaid fraud scheme.

Attorney General Dave Sunday said Barbara Thomas, 46, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 9 to 23 months in prison, as well as 4 years of probation on felony counts of Medicaid fraud, theft by deception, and corrupt organizations.

Authorities said Thomas as the former office manager of Bala Cynwyd-based home care agency ComfortZone Home Health Care.

As part of the sentence, Thomas is ordered to pay $1.39 million in restitution, jointly and severally with her co-defendants.

According to the investigation, Thomas was the office manager and case manager between 2020 and 2023, when ComfortZone submitted personal care attendant claims to Medicaid for reimbursement, knowing the work was fabricated.

The charges were filed following a two-year, collaborative investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section and the FBI. The investigation also involved a presentment from the Fiftieth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury.

Stephanie Mobley owned ComfortZone Home Health Care, an approved Medicaid provider permitted to provide Personal Assistance Services to eligible recipients. Mobley and 20 other co-conspirators were charged in the scheme to defraud the program by submitting claims for services that were never provided, authorities said.

Eighteen members of the conspiracy have pleaded guilty, including Mobley who awaits sentencing, the AG's office said.

The cases against three remaining defendants are pending.

"[Thomas] had her hands in the day-to-day operations and was integrally involved in the advancement of a multi-year scheme that stole from taxpayers and defrauded a system designed to help vulnerable Pennsylvanians," Sunday said. "Our Medicaid Fraud Control Section is a national leader in enforcing laws designed to cut down on fraud and abuse of the system, and we take great pride in that work."