A Cleveland-area woman has been sentenced to a four year suspended jail term and ordered to pay over $740,000 after pleading guilty to forging employee criminal background checks for her healthcare business in order to hide workers’ criminal records.
See article below from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A 47-year-old Cleveland Heights woman received a four-year suspended prison sentence Friday and was ordered to repay $744,800 for forging criminal background checks for employees of her home health-care business.
Denise S. Marsh, the owner of Beta Services Inc., was sentenced by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas because she made it appear her employees had clean records, when in fact many had criminal records that disqualified them for jobs in home health care, Ohio Attorney General spokesman Ted Hart said.
Beta Service Inc., which opened May 1, 2002, had been given an A-minus rating by the Better Business Bureau of Cleveland and also did business under the name of Home Helpers in Cleveland Heights.
Hart said Marsh pleaded guilty on July 14 to one count of theft by deception and six counts of forgery. As sole owner of Beta Services Inc., the company also entered a guilty plea to one count of theft by deception.
“By forging background checks, this defendant deliberately put vulnerable Medicaid recipients in harm’s way by employing people with criminal records in caretaker positions,” Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said.
Marsh’s attorney, Mark G. Kafantaris, was unavailable for comment.
