April 26, 2010 Media Contact: Jenn Meale Phone: (850) 245-0150

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TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Miami-Dade County woman is in custody after she allegedly defrauded the Florida Medicaid program out of more than $1 million. Clara Canizares, a Miami speech pathologist, surrendered today after a warrant was issued for her arrest by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

An investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Florida Department of Health revealed that between January 2006 and November 2009, Canizares was reimbursed over $1 million by the Medicaid program for services allegedly provided by her company, On-Site Therapy and Educational Training, Inc. The investigation is one of a series of ongoing investigations by the Attorney General’s Office focusing on Medicaid fraud committed by speech therapy providers in Miami-Dade County.

Canizares will be charged with one count of grand theft, one count of Medicaid fraud, and one count of organized scheme to defraud, all first-degree felonies. She is currently being held in the Miami-Dade County jail and if convicted faces up to 90 years in prison and fines of up to $30,000. The case is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.