The charade is up for Patrick Usanga, unless he had intentions on posing as a state prison inmate for a while.
Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn H. Nichols on May 20 sentenced the faux physician and psychiatrist to serve six to 12 years behind bars, in addition to five years probation, for orchestrating an elaborate scheme that sought to bilk tens of thousands of dollars from private medical insurers, while stealing thousands more from government-subsidized unemployment compensation and Social Security programs.
Authorities arrested Usanga in April 2013 after an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor into Usanga’s Northeast Behavioral Medicine office at 6800 Castor Ave. They found that Usanga opened and incorporated the business as “a medical clinic providing psychiatric and chemical treatment counseling,” although no one at the facility — including Usanga — was licensed to provide such treatment.
Usanga sought reimbursements of more than $15,000 from Independence Blue Cross and $5,000 from Aetna for procedures performed at the clinic. Patients told investigators that Usanga provided the services personally, although he had identified other employees as care providers on claim forms.
Separately, Usanga filed for and collected more than $55,000 in unemployment compensation while he was working at the clinic. Once those benefits expired, he applied for disability compensation.
A Philadelphia jury found Usanga guilty of numerous counts of theft by deception, insurance fraud and tampering with public records, all felonies, in March. ••
