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Counselor Who Admitted Defrauding Medicaid To Be Sentenced

MADISON, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota counselor who admitted defrauding the Medicaid program of thousands of dollars is set to be sentenced Wednesday.

The Argus Leader ( ) reports 39-year-old Shawn Nills has pleaded guilty to making false claims to Medicaid and other state grant programs, based on over $9,200 of fraudulent billings.

The federal-state Medicaid program provides health care to low-income residents.

Nills obtained his current counseling job in Watertown after he was fired from one in Madison when the fraud was discovered.

Authorities say the fraud happened between October 2012 and March 2014. The fraudulent bills Nills submitted were for a client who was in school, but school attendance records showed the client was in school during the hours Nills had billed as counseling sessions.

Nills is expected to pay the state back over $27,000.

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Information from: Argus Leader,