News
DOJSentencedSeptember 16, 2025AZ

Georgia Man Sentenced to Over 4 Years in Prison for Fraud Targeting AHCCCS

Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Arizona. Published September 16, 2025; the action is dated September 15, 2025.

What the release says

Harrison concealed his ownership of a behavioral health company enrolled as an AHCCCS provider and billed AHCCCS for counseling services that were never provided to enrollees.

Programs MedicaidAlleged $6.5MOrdered $6.5M

Providers named in this release

Matched to the national provider registry by name, place and provider type at high confidence only. Each opens the provider's own record.

1AURTISM LLCMesa, AZ$0
The release, as published

PHOENIX, Ariz. to Kenneth Terrell Harrison, 45, of College Park, Georgia was sentenced on Monday by United States District Judge Michael T. Liburdi to 52 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Harrison was also ordered to pay restitution to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (“AHCCCS”) in the amount of $6,538,485.09. Harrison admitted that he owned an outpatient behavioral health counseling service, Aurtism, LLC, located in Mesa. Aurtism applied to be a medical provider for AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid agency, in 2019. At the time Aurtism applied to AHCCCS, Harrison admitted that he did not disclose his ownership interest in Aurtism to AHCCCS because he was worried that if he accurately described his involvement as the primary owner of the business, AHCCCS would deny the application based upon Harrison’s prior criminal history. Harrison further admitted that he engaged in a fraudulent billing practice targeting AHCCCS. Specifically, starting in January 2020, Harrison began obtaining AHCCCS identification numbers for AHCCCS enrollees, some of whom visited the Aurtism facility, while others he obtained fraudulently. Nearly all of the AHCCCS enrollees billed for by Harrison were members of the American Indian Health Plan (“AIHP”). Aurtism fraudulently billed AHCCCS for services that were never provided to the AHCCCS enrollees. Between January 2020 and October 2021, Aurtism fraudulently billed AHCCCS for $6,538,485.09. At the sentencing hearing, the Court noted the particular harm done to vulnerable populations in Arizona as a result of this type of fraud. The FBI’s Phoenix Division and IRS Criminal Investigation’s Phoenix Field Office conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aron Ketchel, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution. CASE NUMBER: CR-24-0393-MTL RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-149_Harrison

# # # For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

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