Vt. Man Convicted of Fraud, Agrees to Restitution

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell announced that William J. Crayford, 45, of Whitingham, pleaded no contest to Medicaid Fraud in Vermont District Court for Windham County, and agreed to make full restitution of $139,105.31 plus interest, bringing to an end a prosecution filed in December, 2001, based on an investigation that commenced in January, 2000.

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office charged that Crayford lied to Medicaid about services to disabled children that he said were provided by Family Solutions, a for-profit organization owned by him, instead of by Families First, the not-for-profit agency located in Wilmington that actually provided the services from June, 1998 through March, 2000.

The result was that Medicaid payments were made to Family Solutions instead of to Families First. Crayford was executive director of Families First at the time. According to papers filed in court, the deception resulted in Crayford failing to pass through to Families First Medicaid payments that were received on its behalf by Family Solutions.

As part of the plea agreement, in return for Crayford’s no contest plea to one count of Medicaid Fraud the Attorney General’s Office dismissed two counts of Embezzlement. Crayford agreed to make full restitution of $139,105.31 plus interest to Families First and the Vermont Department of Prevention, Assistance, Transition and Health Access, which runs the Medicaid program, beginning with a payment of $30,000 at the time of sentencing and then monthly payments for the next 10 years.

The agreement also calls for Crayford to be sentenced to five to 10 years, all suspended except for 30 days to be served on the work crew, plus another 200 hours of community service. As called for in the plea agreement, the court scheduled sentencing to occur during the first two weeks of July. The court also ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be conducted by the Department of Corrections.