Connecticut Attorney General William Tong reached a $2,366,269.94 settlement with Therapy Unlimited, LLC in Watertown and its owner, Catherine Risigo Wickline, resolving allegations of overbilling in violation of the Connecticut False Claims Act.

Therapy Unlimited provided occupational and physical therapy, primarily to children, from at least 2014. The Attorney General’s office sued in 2019 after an investigation found evidence of thousands of inflated false claims to the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program between January 2014 and July 2019. The office alleged the practice routinely billed for up to two and a half hours of therapy when 30 to 45 minutes was provided. It also alleged that nearly all claims listed Wickline as the performing provider.

Under the settlement, Therapy Unlimited and Wickline must forfeit $433,700 in suspended Medicaid payments. They must also pay $1,932,570 in criminal restitution.

Tong said: “Fraudulent billing wastes taxpayer dollars and undermines trust in our vital public healthcare programs. In coordination with our state and federal law enforcement partners, we will continue to use the full weight of our authority to stop fraud and abuse.”

The state charged Wickline, a licensed occupational therapist, with larceny and healthcare fraud in 2021, and the civil case was stayed. In 2024 she was convicted of first-degree larceny and health insurance fraud, both Class B felonies, after an Alford plea. A court sentenced her to eight years in prison, suspended, with five years of probation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services excluded her from Medicare and Medicaid.