http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2008/11/11/news/doc4919bd9525a67665485291.txt

Burnt Hills counselor arrested for false credentials

Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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By ANDREW J. BERNSTEIN, The Saratogian

GLENVILLE — A Saratoga Springs woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly falsifying educational and professional credentials in order to work as a social worker in two schools.

Maria Geizer, 38, of Grand Avenue, was a social worker employed by Community Human Services, and worked at the Charlton Heights Elementary School from 1999 to 2003, and at the Richard O’Rourke Middle School from 2003 to 2007. Both schools are part of the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district.

The charge alleges she submitted copies of her husband’s master’s degree from SUNY Albany and state counseling license. On both documents she substituted her husband’s name for her own.

Following investigations by the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and the New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Geizer was charged with maintaining an unauthorized practice, a class-E felony; second-degree grand larceny, a class-C felony; and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class-D felony. She was arraigned in Glenville Town Court on Thursday, and has been released on her own recognizance, pending a date in state court.

Her arrest stems from a random audit for improper Medicaid billing, according to the state Attorney General’s office.

The maximum sentence for the grand larceny charge, the most egregious of the three felonies, is five to 15 years in state prison, although a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office noted that sentencing is always at the discretion of the judge.

Christy Multer, a communication specialist with the district in which Geizer worked, employs one social worker, and has contracted with Community Human Services (CHS) for at least the past 20 years to staff counselors at each of the district’s five schools. This was the first problem with a CHS employee’s qualifications, she said.

“It’s been an effective relationship, and a cost effective relationship,” Multer said of the district’s work with CHS.

“She was a social worker in our school, but was never a district employee. She was a CHS employee,” Multer said, emphasizing the distinction.

According to a felony complaint filed against Geizer by the Attorney General’s office on Nov. 5, the agreement between the school district and CHS required CHS to verify the credentials of its employees. The complaint states that Geizer was “employed by the school district as a social worker based upon her representations, employment applications and resume submissions stating that she had earned a master’s degree.”

After the Medicaid Inspector General’s audit raised concerns about Geizer’s qualifications, the school district asked her to produce her qualifications.

“When we asked her about it, she chose to resign,” Multer said.

While working for the district, Geizer earned $226,844 between 1999 and 2007. During the time period, she treated 123 students, whose cases were billed to the Medicaid system at a rate of $225 per child, for a total in $27,675 that was paid to the district from the Medicaid system. This payment constituted an illegal billing, and caused the Medicaid inspector to request hard copies of Geizer’s credentials.

“Those who work in our educational system must meet the required criteria that the law has put in place,” said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a statement. “We trust educators and other school personnel to be qualified and trained in order to properly interact with our children. Any breach of that trust not only violates New York state law, (but) it may deprive our children of the care and quality services to which they are entitled.”

Multer referred comments on Geizer’s effectiveness as a counselor to her employers at CHS.

An employee who answered the phone at CHS said no one was available to speak with the press.

There are 3,450 students attending five schools in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district. In most cases there is one counselor assigned to each school, but the district contracts for five or six counselors each school year.

Multer said the district was planning on announcing the arrest to parents via a release on its Web site.