An unlicensed therapist in Winona, Minn., has been put on probation and ordered to join with her daughter and pay back the nearly $200,000 stolen through false claims made under the government-funded Medicaid program.
Probation for Winona woman who teamed with daughter to steal $192K through phony therapy billing
Sentences for the two order them to pay back the money.
August 11, 2023 at 3:01PM
Kristine A. Hollund, 56, was sentenced Thursday in Winona County District Court after pleading guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle in connection with the scheme that prosecutors say spanned from April 2016 to January 2019.
Along with five years of probation, Hollund's sentence orders her to perform 120 hours of community work service and a ban from working as a Medicaid provider.
Her daughter, Brittany A. Lindner, 36, also of Winona, handled the fraudulent billing and received the identical sentence earlier this year. The restitution bill for the two of them comes to $192,433.79.
An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the state Attorney General's Office alleged that Hollund's Athena Counseling Services submitted bills more than 1,000 times for services that were not provided or were fraudulent in some other manner, with Lindner making the submissions to various insurers.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield's share of $116,546 made it the most victimized among the insurers, according to the charges. Others included Aetna, UCare, the state Department of Human Services, Medica and Preferred One.
In October 2016, Hollund had her license as a professional clinical counselor suspended for three years by the state Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy. The suspension order, agreed to by Hollund, was for lying to the board during its investigation that found she had a sexual relationship with a man who had received counseling from her. She also had counseled his wife and children.
Hollund, whose last name was Radloff at the time, acknowledged that while her relationship with the man she would eventually marry started after she was no longer counseling him, it began before the legally required two years had passed.
Despite her suspension, Hollund either went ahead and provided services anyway or contracted with one or more therapists to do so, the charges read.
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