North Carolina man in Richland County jail on Medicaid fraud charges, prosecutor says

A North Carolina man was locked up in a Richland County jail on Medicaid fraud charges, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday.

Tommel Devon Hayes was booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center Monday, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a news release.

Following an investigation by the South Carolina Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the 45-year-old Goldsboro, North Carolina, resident was charged with three counts of obtaining signature or property by false pretenses, value of $10,000 or more, and one count of medical assistance provider fraud, according to the release.

Hayes owned and operated Clearscreen LLC, that’s based in Columbia, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office said. The drug testing service opened in November 2015 and is at 201 Columbia Mall Blvd., which is in the Dentsville area near Two Notch Road.

Between Oct. 10, 2015, and Jan. 31, 2018, Hayes used the business at least three times to “knowingly and willfully, by false pretense or representation,” obtain more than $10,000 “to cheat and defraud” the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicaid Program, Wilson’s office said.

There was no word on how much money Hayes got from the S.C. Medicaid program, or what he did with the funds.

Information about how the scheme operated was not available.

Hayes was also charged with creating and submitting fraudulent documents and claims to the S.C. Medicaid program for mental health services that were not rendered to numerous Medicaid beneficiaries who lived in Greenville and Florence, according to the release.

If convicted on the felony obtaining signature or property by false pretenses charges, Hayes faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison on each count, according to South Carolina law. He could also be sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in prison and a $1,000 fine if he’s found guilty of the misdemeanor medical assistance provider fraud.

On Tuesday, Hayes was not listed on the jail’s inmate roster. Information about bond was not available.