Worker indicted on Felix fraud charges
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
For the third time in the past year, a worker who was supposed to have been providing services to public school students with special needs has been indicted on theft and fraud charges.
On Tuesday, an O'ahu grand jury indicted Daniel Riedel on multiple theft and medical assistance fraud charges.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett said the charges against Riedel, 32, are based on allegations that he filed false payment claims with his employer, Alaka'i Na Keiki, which is in the business of providing services to students under the Felix consent decree program.
The program is essentially an agreement between the state Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice to bring educational services for mentally and physically handicapped students in Hawai'i up to par with federal requirements.
Bennett said the indictment alleges that Riedel submitted claims between July 1999 and January 2000 for payment of services he did not render to several special-needs students. The amount involved came out to more than $13,000, Bennett said.
The claims in question involved Kalani High School students as well as students at several other East O'ahu schools, Deputy Attorney General Christopher Young said.
Young said Riedel lived in Kane'ohe during the time specified in the indictment but is now believed to be living somewhere on the Mainland. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest and bail was set at $9,000.
The indictment alleges six counts of second-degree theft and six counts of medical assistance fraud. Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Warren Johnson Jr., a former therapeutic aide for special-needs students at Kailua High School, pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery charges last month. In another case related to the investigation of money spent under the Felix decree, an O'ahu grand jury in May 2002 indicted therapeutic aide Susan Puapuaga on 10 counts of medical assistance fraud for billing the state for about $1,800 worth of services that were not provided. She pleaded no contest to the charges in July.
Puapuaga was indicted on new charges last month for allegedly submitting an additional $18,000 in false billings to the state. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Johnson and Puapuaga are awaiting sentencing.
Hawai'i's school system has been under the federal court's oversight since the state signed the decree in 1994. A special state House-Senate investigative committee was organized in early 2001 amid growing concerns about how the consent decree money was being spent.
