JUDGE SENTENCES PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT AND ORDERS A HEARING TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF RESTITUTION TO BE PAID IN CONNECTION WITH A SCHEME TO DEFRAUD IN HOSPITAL TIME SHEET SCAM

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a judge has ordered a hearing to determine the amount of restitution to be paid by a 49-year-old Physician’s Assistant who was convicted of fraud involving two medical institutions that had employed her.

Ann Landsman, of 3412 Avenue L, Brooklyn was found guilty on June 6, 2007 of one count of Scheme to Defraud in the 1st degree. The crime involved the theft of tens of thousands of dollars by improperly filing time sheets for working simultaneous shifts at two different hospitals.

Landsman was facing a maximum sentence of up to 4 years imprisonment following her conviction on a Class E felony offense. The People, however, recommended that she serve six months in jail, be placed on probation for 4 ½ years, and required to pay approximately $100,000 in restitution to Montefiore and North Central Bronx Hospitals.

State Supreme Court Justice David Stadtmauer instead sentenced Landsman to a Conditional Discharge saying that after consulting with a panel of judges, he had determined that there would be no useful purpose served by imposing either a jail sentence, a fine, or a period of probation. The judge then set September 10, 2007 for a hearing in Part T 19 to determine a dollar amount of the restitution. The People, throughout pre-trial plea discussions, had maintained that restitution in and of itself would not be an appropriate punishment because a third party had offered to replace the funds involved. The restitution would not come out of the defendant’s pockets.

The jury found that Landsman had engaged in a “systematic ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud more than one person by false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises.” The evidence showed that Landsman submitted fraudulent time sheets for working simultaneous shifts at North Central Bronx Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital between August 30, 1999 and February 21, 2002. Additional time sheets were submitted for working simultaneous shifts at Montefiore Hospital and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from April 3, 2000 until September 29, 2003. The scheme involved unearned income of approximately $35,000 from North Central Bronx Hospital and $65,000 from Montefiore Hospital. Auditors for the hospitals uncovered the scam after a doctor realized that she could not have been in two places at the same time. Hospital administrators contacted the Bronx District Attorney’s Office which conducted an investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Glucksman and Assistant District Attorney Jessica Lupo of the Investigations Division.