The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office has issued 13 indictments against Blooming Staffing Agency, Inc., their owner Catherine Kibe, and former employee Jerry Osazee, for allegations of staffing nursing homes with unlicensed aides and fraudulent billing practices, as reported by the Attorney General’s Offive, accoring to the Attorney General’s Office.
According to the indictment details, the temporary nurse staffing agency based in Worcester provided uncertified individuals to fulfil positions that required Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Registered Nurses (RNs), injecting risking into an environment where vulnerability lives, breathes. Blooming Staffing Agency and its owner apparently received over $300,000 for services the uncertified employees were not qualified to provide as detailed by the Attorney General’s Office.
Owner Catherine Kibe, at the helm of Blooming since 2020, is facing charges including multiple counts of Larceny by False Pretenses and Identity Fraud, while Jerry Osazee, associated with the agency from 2023 to 2024, is charged with Attempted Larceny by False Pretenses and Identity Fraud for knowingly impersonating a licensed CNA, all this according to the Attorney General's statement, as reported by the Attorney General’s Office.
The investigation and prosecution saw collaboration across departments, with Managing Attorney Katie Cooper Davis and Investigator Kevin Todd of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division leading the charge, supported by local and federal partners, these incidents underline a far-reaching concern for the oversight and quality of care that graces our elder most population, who rely on a system's integrity and an industry's competence to nurse the frailty that comes inevitably with age, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
AG Campbell’s tenure has recovered close to $900,000 from various temporary staffing agencies that steered away from compliance and the division is equipped with a robust annual funding blend from the federal and state to continue its work, as indicated in the financial breakdown provided by the Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division, as per the Attorney General’s Office.
