COLUMBUS — Former Riverside Recovery Services owner Amy Smart pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud on Oct. 9.
According to court documents, U.S. attorneys dismissed 12 counts of false health care statements.
U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole sentenced Smart to 12 months of supervised release. She must obtain employment of at least 30 hours a week and is barred from holding a position where she would have fiduciary responsibility or control over finances of another person, business or government funding without the permission of her probation officer.
The sentence also bars her from participating in any federal or Ohio health care benefit programs.
Cole confined Smart to her home except for work, school, religious services, medical or mental health treatment, attorney visits and court appearances.
He also ordered Smart to pay restitution of $345,093 to the Ohio Department of Medicaid. Court documents show Smart paid that restitution.
A multi-year investigation
Riverside Recovery Services was a counseling center that provided alcohol and drug counseling and case management services in Knox, Lawrence and Coshocton counties.
The statement of facts says the Ohio Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received numerous complaints about Riverside’s billing in 2018.
That unit and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found Smart overbilled Ohio Medicaid for alcohol and drug treatment services.
Smart first pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2024. The plea agreement ordered her to pay $345,093 in restitution to Ohio Medicaid. In addition, both parties agreed to probation, the length of which would be determined by the court.
In April 2025, U.S. District Judge James L. Graham, Southern District of Ohio, rejected Smart’s plea deal because Smart had a history of similar crimes. She had a past conviction, probation and a prison sentence in the early 2000s.
A grand jury formally indicted Smart on the 13 counts in June 2025. The indictment alleged Smart billed Ohio Medicaid for drug treatment counseling sessions that were not performed or not performed as billed.
It also states Smart directed Riverside employees to pad counseling services and create fraudulent progress and case management notes to support higher Medicaid billing.
The alleged incidents occurred between July 2018 and Jan. 7, 2023.
Smart pleaded not guilty in August 2025. The court released her on bond pending trial.
At her Oct. 9, 2026, sentencing, she pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud.
