FORT WAYNE – Susanne “Suzi” Gawel, age 57, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Holly A. Brady after her plea of guilty to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Kirsch.

Gawel was sentenced to 48 months in prison, 1 year of supervised release and ordered to pay $646,690.32 in restitution.

According to documents in this case, in March of 2020, Gawel was charged by way of Information and subsequently entered a plea of guilty to the charges. She worked as an office manager at her Fort Wayne company which sold durable medical equipment to clients across northern Indiana. Some of the company’s clients were Medicaid beneficiaries. Through her work, Gawel had access to Medicaid patient information, including patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, Medicaid ID numbers and treating physician information. From about January 2015 and continuing to about October 2018, Gawel devised a scheme to defraud Medicaid. During this time period, she submitted over 200 reimbursement claims to Indiana Medicaid for DME, including oximetry devices and pneumatic compressors, which were not provided to Medicaid recipients and/or for which they had no medical necessity and/or for which there was no physician order. In total, her scheme defrauded Indiana Medicaid of approximately $646,690.32.

“My Office is focused on prosecuting fraud cases such as this one,” said United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II. “Defrauding a federally funded health care program like Medicaid cheats all taxpayers. This case demonstrates that when individuals exploit a federally funded program, our law enforcement partners will investigate and my Office will prosecute and hold accountable those responsible.”

“The investigation of health care fraud is a priority for the FBI and this type of illegal conduct will not be tolerated,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan. "This sentence not only emphasizes the cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and investigate those who engage in this type of crime, but also sends a clear message to those who would exploit federally funded health care programs that they will be held accountable.”

“We are committed to exposing waste, fraud and abuse of Medicaid funds and bringing to justice those who have broken the law,” Attorney General Curtis Hill said. “I am proud of the investigative work of our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in this case, and I am grateful as well for the contributions of our federal partners.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. This case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah E. Nokes.