Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Brent P. Dellarma was a practicing physical therapist employed by Genesis Rehabilitation at Sandy River Center for Health Care in Farmington, Maine, for nearly a year between 2007 and 2008, until management suspected something was awry with his paperwork. The man had worked as a physical therapy assistant and then as a physical therapist at Sandy River Center. He had documentation filed with the Board of Examiners in Physical Therapy in the state’s Department of Professional and Financial regulation. However, an investigation found that the paperwork Dellarma filed was bogus and that he had misrepresented his qualifications, according to the Morning Sentinel.

When officials at Genesis Rehabilitation suspected Dellarma’s credentials were at fault, they immediately suspended him. Then they contacted the Department of Health, local authorities and the Attorney General’s office. Dellarma was later terminated by his employer.

Dellarma was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated forgery, a Class B felony, for allegedly filing a public document with a public office with the intent to defraud or deceive. Dellarma also was indicted on two counts of felony theft by deception and one count for unlicensed practice of physical therapy, a misdemeanor.

The Morning Sentinel quoted a statement released by Genesis Rehabilitation: “We take issues like this very seriously and are cooperating fully with the authorities as they handle this situation. This is an isolated incident and is not a reflection of the overall quality of care provided to our patients every day. We remain committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment for the patients in our care.”

There was no evidence that any patients were harmed or endangered. No other information about the case was released, and the case remains under investigation by the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Health Care Crimes Unit.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.