Mass. Mental Health Counselor’s Claims of Malaria Come Back to Bite Him

A Lynn, Massachusetts man and mental health counselor has been arraigned on charges he allegedly falsified health insurance documents to say that he was treated for malaria in an effort to be reimbursed cash by the insurance company.

Janarius Nanje, 40, of Lynn, was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on two counts of filing false health care claims and one count each of larceny over $250 and attempted larceny.

Criminal complaints were issued against Nanje in March that alleged he submitted two false claims to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) for coverage of treatment which never occurred.

In July 2003, HPHC paid an $11,965 claim Nanje submitted for treatment of malaria and typhoid fever he alleged to have received at District Hospital Nkondjock in Cameroon, Africa from June 15 through July 7, 2003.

One year later in June 2004, Nanje allegedly submitted another claim to HPHC for $29,150 for malaria treatment he again alleged to have received in Cameroon between April 4 and April 29, 2004.

HPHC identified concerns with Nanje’s claims and confronted him before referring the matter to the Attorney General’s Office.

Further investigation by the Attorney General’s Office revealed that Nanje had not been treated at all for malaria.