GARY
Obama campaign office slated to open Saturday
Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will open its Gary office at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Supporters are expected to gather at the Gary headquarters, 4405 W. Fifth St., and conduct a door-to-door voter registration drive.
INDIANAPOLIS
State fraud unit ferrets out $14 million in 2007
The state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered a record $14 million last year, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter announced Thursday.
The unit, a division of the attorney general's office, completed 219 fraudulent billing investigations and 1,235 abuse and neglect cases in 2007. The investigations led to 17 criminal prosecutions that netted 11 convictions. Four cases remain pending
"Those that cheat the Medicaid system hurt the patients they serve and increase health care costs over the long run," Carter said in a statement. "Since 2004, the unit has recovered $34 million for the state. We will continue to work with federal, state and local law enforcement to pursue justice against those that would commit fraud against patients and the public health care program."
The biggest bounty came from Bristol-Myers Squibb, a global pharmaceutical firm that paid Indiana $5.8 million as part of a multistate settlement over illegal marketing and pricing practices. The settlement involved Abilify, an antipsychotic drug, and Serozone, an antidepressant.
The fraud unit also prosecuted Gani Azeez, of Gary, who pleaded guilty to defrauding the state-federal Medicaid program of up to $17,000.
CROWN POINT
Gary man faces another charge in rash of crimes
Milo Joseph Walker Jr., 24, was charged with felony robbery Thursday, accused of robbing an elderly woman at gunpoint, police said.
Walker now faces four counts of felony robbery and one count of felony battery for crimes in which senior citizens were targeted as they returned home from shopping, police said.
In this case, the Munster woman told police she thought it was her son playing a joke at first when a man came up behind her and placed a gun to her head, telling her not to speak or he would shoot her.
The 75-year-old woman handed Walker her purse, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Gary residents Maurice Reed, 25; Landon Shaw, 19; Brandon Green, 19; and Walker face felony robbery, battery and carjacking charges in connection with at least 24 crimes in Chicago, Hammond, Calumet City, Burnham, Lansing and Dolton. The four men are being held by Hammond police.
The four were arrested last week as a result of a months-long investigation by the Illiana Gang Task Force, which includes 30 officers from 10 Illinois communities and eight Indiana communities.
