Three members of family are accused of Medicaid fraud

Oct. 6—Three members of a family are accused of defrauding the Maryland Medical Assistance Program, or Medicaid, of at least $100,000 over the course of four years.

Ayesha Afzal, 33, of Boca Raton, Florida; Mehmood Afzal, 32, of Ijamsville; and Tahir Afzal, 60, of Frederick were all indicted by a grand jury in December 2021 on charges of conspiracy to defraud a state health plan, defrauding a state health plan, felony theft scheme and identity fraud scheme.

The indictment did not go into detail about the allegations. Raquel Guillory Coombs, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said that since the case was still in litigation, her office could not provide more details on the alleged fraud.

Ayesha Afzal is the daughter of Tahir Afzal. Mehmood is Tahir's son. They are being tried together.

The trial was scheduled to start in March 2023, and last five to seven weeks.

At a hearing on Monday, Assistant Attorney General Catherine Schuster Pascale said she and Assistant Attorney General James McHale, who was not present, had identified more than 40 witnesses who could testify, which would take time.

However, Tahir Afzal's attorney, Mark Schamel, said the case should last one or two weeks. He was with Ayesha Afzal's attorney, Peggy Bennett.

Mehmood Afzal's attorney, David Benowitz, was busy with another case on Monday and wasn't present.

Schamel said there were some scheduling conflicts among the trio of defense attorneys with such a long trial.

Schamel said jurors wouldn't need to hear all of the testimony from Medicaid recipients, who are some of the witnesses the state identified. He asked for hearings to figure out which witnesses should testify, to streamline the trial to a couple of weeks.

"The recipients don't really have a connection to whether the defendants committed a crime," he said.

Pascale disagreed with Schamel.

"There's storylines behind each of their testimonies," she said, referencing the potential Medicaid recipient witnesses.

Pascale said five to seven weeks takes into consideration cross-examination. But Schamel said there's a lot of overlap between the defendants and there would be no need to repeat some cross-examinations.

Frederick County Circuit Court Judge Julie Stevenson Solt decided to reschedule the trial. She said there will be hearings to figure out how to shorten the trial, probably to around two weeks.

She said she has looked for a judge with the proper knowledge to preside over the case; a shorter trial would help.

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