Carrollton Oral Surgeon Pleads Guilty to Thefts from Medicaid Program

Gordon Trent Austin, an oral surgeon who operated a dental practice in Carrolton, Georgia, pled guilty today to six counts of misdemeanor theft by taking before Judge John T. Simpson in Carroll County Superior Court. The charges alleged that on six occasions between 2003 and 2008, Austin submitted to the Georgia Medicaid program false claims for teeth extractions which he did not perform, and Austin received payments from Medicaid for those false claims.  Under the terms of a plea agreement, Dr. Austin was placed on probation for five years, paid a fine of $6,000, reimbursed the state for investigative expenses of $3577.68, and agreed not to participate in any State’s Medicaid program for a period of five years. Prior to court, Dr. Austin repaid the Medicaid program $6,112.58 for the six false claims.

The matter was investigated by the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, consisting of prosecutors with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, auditors with the Department of Audits and Accounts, and investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Smeal handled the case for the State of Georgia.