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Bodiongan was paid for home visits at various locations throughout Queens; however, the investigation allegedly showed license plate readers from the Cross Bay Bridge placed Bodiongan near her home at the same time as the visits.
By Forum Staff
A grand jury has indicted a registered nurse with the City Health + Hospitals Corporation for allegedly filing false timekeeping records through an electronic system designed to document the duration of her home care visits, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced on Friday.
Catherine Bodiongan, 49, of Rockaway Park, was arraigned last week on a 62-count indictment charging her with first- and second-degree falsifying business records and fourth-degree grand larceny. Bodiongan was released on her own recognizance and ordered her to return to court on May 14.
According to the indictment, on Aug. 10, 2017, Bodiongan used an electronic medical records system to document a visit to a patient who lived in Queens Village. A routine follow-up inquiry was made at which time officials learned that the patient had actually died on July 30, 2017. Following this discovery, officials launched an investigation, Brown noted.
According to the charges, during the month of August 2017, and February and March of 2018, Bodiongan was paid for home visits at various locations throughout Queens; however, the investigation allegedly showed license plate readers from the Cross Bay Bridge placed Bodiongan near her home at the same time as the visits. Official records from Bodiongan’s employer-provided cell phone, as well as her personal mobile phone, also allegedly showed she was in locations other than patients’ homes at the time of the alleged visits.
Surveillance conducted by law enforcement officials allegedly showed that on Feb. 20, 2018, and March 1, 2018, the defendant entered and exited patients’ homes for periods of time ranging from 10 minutes to up to 45 minutes, yet her official filings for pay stated she visited for much longer.
Brown said Bodiongan “is accused of bilking her employer—funds that could have been used to provide health care for the indigent and uninsured of New York City. A registered nurse, she was entrusted to provide quality care for patients as well as to honestly disclose the hours she worked providing that care. Instead, this defendant allegedly found a way to scheme the system and fill her pockets with thousands of extra dollars she did not earn. She now faces prison time for her alleged greed.”
If convicted, Bodiongan faces up to four years in prison.
