Former South Deerfield resident sentenced to probation, must pay nearly $14K in Medicaid fraud case
Published: 06-17-2025 6:02 PM |
GREENFIELD — Brenda Bialecki, 60, formerly of South Deerfield, was sentenced to two years probation and must pay $13,600 in restitution after she pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon to single counts of Medicaid false claims, larceny over $1,200 and Medicaid kickbacks.
“I understand, your honor,” Bialecki said after Judge Jeremy Bucci explained to her the consequences of changing her plea to guilty. “Yes, I did all those terrible things.”
MassHealth paid $98,836 for claims for services provided to Bialecki by her two personal care attendants (PCAs), John Baracewicz, 61, of Danvers, and Isaiah Salaam, 39, of Greenfield, that were tainted by the kickback scheme or were otherwise false. Included in those figures is at least $66,018 that was paid for hours not worked.
Bucci ruled that Bialecki must pay $10,000 of her restitution within the next two weeks and the rest of her restitution in monthly installments. Should she need to use the state’s PCA services again, Bucci ruled that she must do so using a surrogate.
According to state Assistant Attorney General Scott Grannemann, Baracewicz and Salaam were assigned to be Bialecki’s PCAs. From August 2017 through September 2022, he previously said Baracewicz, Salaam and Bialecki deliberately submitted timesheets recording more hours than were worked.
“These hours included overnight services, which the PCAs did not provide,” Grannemann said.
Baracewicz and Salaam would withdraw about half of each of their PCA paychecks and give that money to Bialecki, according to Grannemann. This constitutes a kickback.
Although Grannemann requested that Bialecki be sentenced to two years of imprisonment alongside restitution and probation, her attorney, Aliki Recklitis, argued on behalf of her client, who has no prior criminal record.
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Recklitis said she believed the state’s proposed penalties for Bialecki were too severe, given that neither Baracewicz nor Salaam were sentenced to prison time. In March, the case against the two men was continued without a finding for two years, during which time the defendants will be on probation and required to pay restitution. Baracewicz must pay $12,037 in restitution, while Salaam must pay $4,800.
“This began because [Bialecki] said that she was having some trouble getting PCAs, and one of them gave her this idea and she succumbed to the idea and began taking little bits of money. Little bits of money gathered like grains of sand into something quite large,” Recklitis said. “She has been living in Florida for a while, but she’s come back here, so I think that there will be no further problems. She’s pleading guilty in this case where the co-defendants received costs. … That’s quite a hefty sentence compared to them.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.