A Kansas City employee has been charged with his role in a city hall health insurance program scam.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri has announced Matt Tholen, 29, of Kansas City pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
According to a press release, Tholen, a city emergency services technician, participated in a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas City wellness program that offered gift cards to members that completed certain exercise and diet programs.
“Tholen admitted that he and other employees submitted false entries, claiming they completed extremely strenuous activities in order to fraudulently obtain the maximum gift card of $250. To make even more money in this scheme, Tholen admitted, he and others submitted false entries for other employees and their eligible dependents, in exchange for receiving a portion of the fraudulent gift card proceeds,” the U.S. Attorney’s office says.”Tholen made fraudulent Points to Blue submissions on behalf of 62 employees, resulting in 144 gift cards worth a total of $17,600. Among the fraudulent submissions, on Jan. 16, 2011 Tholen submitted an activity entry to Points to Blue stating that 5-year-old “TJ” had completed two marathons and two triathlons.”
Under federal statutes, Tholen is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000.
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