FAR ROCKAWAY — Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced Tuesday that three clinical counselors at Daytop Village in Far Rockaway, which provides substance abuse treatment to adults and teens, have been charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy and other crimes for allegedly filing false progress reports with the courts on behalf of a patient in exchange for his obtaining for them what they believed to be stolen merchandise.
Kasheen Bolden, 40, of Brooklyn; Claudette Fickling, 60, of Long Island; and Miguel Aviles, 46, of New Jersey, were awaiting arraignment and are variously charged with insurance fraud, offering a false document for filing, falsifying business records, possession of stolen property, conspiracy, criminal falsification and attempted petit larceny, according to the DA’s office.
If convicted, they each face up to seven years in prison, the DA’s office said.
According to the charges, between May 2010 and July 2011, Bolden, Fickling and Aviles provided unauthorized benefits to a patient —such as not having to stay at the facility, attend therapy sessions or take mandatory urine tests — and filed false progress reports with the court on his behalf in exchange for his obtaining for them what they believed to be stolen merchandise, such as laundry detergent, tools and computers, the DA’s office said.
The investigation was ongoing, the DA said.
