Falls Man Charged With 18 Counts of Medical Assistance Fraud

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that Frederick Rutledge, 43, of Menomonee Falls, has been charged with 18 counts of medical assistance fraud. 

Each Class H felony charge carries a penalty of up to 6 months imprisonment and $25,000 in fines.

These charges stem from Rutledge’s ownership of Precious Transit, a specialized medical vehicle transportation company, that was based in Menomonee Falls along Appleton Avenue.  Precious Transit conveys Medicaid patients to various medical appointments and is reimbursed by the Medicaid program.  Such transportation is required to be provided by trained and certified drivers. Qualified drivers receive specific training and their vehicles are inspected to ensure that proper safety equipment is installed.

Former employees have come forward with information that Rutledge falsified paperwork that documented services provided to Medicaid patients and to receive payments from the program.  These documents were falsified to show that trained and certified drivers were used when, in fact, they were not.

Rutledge was paid more than $10,100.00 by the Medicaid program as a result of submitting these false claim reports.

Former employees of Precious Transit said Rutledge would pay non-certified drivers cash, and told them to leave the driver’s name field blank on the forms they were required to fill out after making a drop-off. The name of a former qualified driver would be written into the field instead.

Investigators also found numerous documents with the driver’s name field covered with White Out and replaced with Rutledge’s name, or another qualified driver’s name. Investigators discovered that Rutledge’s name appeared as the driver for routes at the same time, but at different locations.

The criminal complaint was filed in Milwaukee County and Rutledge is scheduled to appear on June 14 for an initial appearance.