Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SPOKANE -- A Spokane County couple, Cheryl Kay Edlin and Claude Allen Edlin, were each charged today with nine counts of theft and filing false statements to obtain state Medicaid reimbursements in connection with the unlicensed denturist services they provided at two Spokane clinics.

The charges were filed by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) in Spokane County Superior Court. The Edlins each were charged with four counts of first-degree theft, two counts of second-degree theft and three counts of Medicaid false statement.

According to papers filed in the case, the defendants provided unlicensed denturist services to patients at Inland Empire Denture/Dental Clinic and A New You Dental Clinic between 1999 and 2001. They then submitted the costs to the state Department of Social and Health Services for payment by claiming licensed dentists had provided the services.

The state claimed the defendants received over $15,000 in Medicaid payments by fraudulently billing for services provided to patients.

Auditors from the state Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees the state Medicaid program, worked with the MFCU and a state Department of Health investigator on the case.

Arraignment in the case has been scheduled for March 29.

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