NEW CITY, N.Y. – A local physician was arraigned in Rockland County Court this week on charges stemming from an alleged scheme to collect state wages while employed elsewhere.
Lena Samuel, 47, of New City, faces an indictment charging her with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and 29 counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, according to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang.
Court documents allege that Samuel, employed as a Medical Review Consultant by the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), received approximately $27,000 in state wages between November 25, 2023, and November 24, 2024, for hours she was reportedly working for another employer. During this period, prosecutors claim she submitted timesheets to OTDA indicating she was working remotely, while simultaneously working in person at Saint Dominic’s Family Services in the Bronx.
In addition, the indictment alleges that Samuel submitted three doctor notes in support of her remote work request that were signed under the name of Joan Ellen Rose, M.D., of the Division of Hospital Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The investigation found that Mount Sinai has no record of any such doctor.
“This defendant sought to enrich herself at taxpayer expense, by claiming State pay for hours she did not work,” Walsh said. “Public service is a public trust, and those who betray that trust will be held accountable.”
Lang highlighted the broader implications; she said, “Fraud against the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance is a crime against New Yorkers in need and against all taxpayers. We thank Rockland County DA Walsh and his team for their partnership in seeking accountability for this breach of the public trust.”
The investigation was conducted jointly by the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigative Unit and the New York State Office of the Inspector General. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant District Attorney Katherine Crispi.
Samuel is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. The case remains under investigation.