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September 5, 2007

Former nursing home execs to pay $1.138M in fines

PROVIDENCE -- Two former Hillside Health Center officials will have to pay more than $1 million in fines and restitution after pleading no contest today to state charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to commit embezzlement.

Antonio L. Giordano, 63, and John Montecalvo, 68, were also sentenced to 10 years each in prison, with one year to serve, but those sentences will run concurrently with the sentences they are already serving in federal prison, so they won't spend any additional time in prison.

The pair pleaded no contest to the charges today before a Superior Court judge in Providence during a live video conference from federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J.

Montecalvo also pleaded no contest to patient neglect.

Between them, the pair will pay a total of 1,138,000 in fees and fines, including restitution of $500,000 to the state Medicaid program; a $500,000 fine to the state; $100,000 to the Alliance for Better Long Term care, which advocates for people in nursing homes; $30,000 in restiitution to 10 patients or their families; and $8,000 to reimburse the state Attorney General's Office for prosecution costs.

The two were indicted on 35 counts each in August of last year.

A majority of the state charges accuse the two men of directing federal money to the mortgage company and then loaning the money back to Hillside at twice the interest rate the federal government was charging.

The indictment also asserts the men in January 2002 took a $400,000 Medicaid check and did not deposit it into the nursing home's operating account but, rather, deposited it for personal use into an account at the mortgage company.

Montecalvo is alleged to have "intentionally failed to provide treatment and care" to 10 patients at Hillside between September 2003 and March 2004, the state indictment said.

Giordano, who operated the home, and Montecalvo, his chief financial officer, were sentenced last year to federal charges. Giordano admitted in the federal case last year that he diverted more than $780,000 in federal money to a company run by his daughter.

Giordano was sentened in the federal case to 2 1/2 years in federal prison and Montecalvo to two years.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

CORRECTION: The original post incorrectly gave the age for Antonio L. Giordano; he is 63,

Posted by Jack Perry  at 2:49 PM | Permalink

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