Legal Briefs: News from Around NH

Margaret Kerouac

Family Law attorney Margaret Kerouac launches practice 

Margaret R. Kerouac brings nearly 25 years of experience as a family law attorney into the private sector establishing Kerouac Law, a firm specializing in high-asset and complex divorce cases.

Kerouac Law works collaboratively with a client’s existing counsel and with a number of boutique, regional, and national law firms to provide exceptional service and guidance to clients on issues outside the family law realm such as trust, business, tax, corporate, real estate, and other matters.

Margaret Kerouac is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), a distinction that signifies her reputation as one of the best family law attorneys in the country. She has significant trial experience and holds the designation of NITA Advocate. Considered the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States, The Best Lawyers in America has recognized Kerouac for her work in the practice areas of Arbitration, Collaborative Law, Family Law, and Family Law Mediation, since 2016. For the past decade Kerouac has also been honored by Super Lawyers and held a Martindale AV rating, which is the highest possible rating in the legal profession.

Kerouac Law was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in Manchester, NH. Visit www.kerouaclaw.com

Dept. of Justice warns of jury summons, cash bond scams

The Department of Justice is warning of two scams targeting residents of the Granite State. 

The first scam is a jury summons scam aimed at obtaining New Hampshire residents’ personal identifying information and a payment of a fine. The second scam is a cash bond scam aimed at receiving virtual currency deposits from victims, according to a press release sent U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young and U.S. Marshal William Hart.

The reported phone fraudsters in the jury summons scam represent themselves to be a U.S. Marshal or a state or local law enforcement officer, claiming to be contacting residents who did not comply with a jury summons. They request a return call in an effort to obtain personal identifying information and/or threaten to arrest an individual if a fine is not paid.

In the cash bond scam, fraudsters call people informing them of fake pending criminal charges and directing them to pay bail money using public virtual currency machines or kiosks.

“Fraudsters are always finding new ways to exploit our fears and obligations,” said Young in the press release. “While jury duty is one of our most fundamental civic duties, the court does not use law enforcement officers to arrest potential jurors. Additionally, the government will never ask you to pay fines or taxes by phone or via a virtual currency machine. Please protect yourselves — be cautious when giving out your personal identifying information.”

“The U.S. Marshals Service will never request your personal information by phone. Be on guard with your personal information if you don’t know who is calling. Don’t give it to anyone,” said Hart in the press release. “Please know it is OK to ask for a phone number and complete independent research to confirm the phone number, by contacting the authorities.”

Residents who receive a jury summons or bail payment scam call should notify the clerk’s office at the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire by calling 603-225-1423 or emailing daniel_lynch@nhd.uscourts.gov. — Laconia Daily Sun staff

Claremont couple pleads guilty to Medicaid fraud

A Claremont couple has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud, seven months after being indicted on charges of submitting more than $40,000 in false mileage reimbursement for travel to treatment programs.

Sarah LaPointe, 29, pleaded guilty in Merrimack County Superior Court on May 13 to two counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of theft by deception, according to state court records.

She was sentenced to 12 months in Merrimack County House of Corrections on the Medicaid fraud conviction, which is to be followed by a consecutive five-to-10-year sentence in state prison, fully suspended for 10 years, on the theft by deception conviction, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said in a news release on Monday.

Joseph Bye, 31, also pleaded guilty on May 13 to the same charges as LaPointe. He awaits sentencing.

Prosecutors alleged that from 2020 to 2022, Bye and LaPointe stole between them a total of $41,606.62 from the state Medicaid program by submitting fraudulent claims for mileage reimbursement to the Family and Friends Mileage Reimbursement Program.

Bye claimed he was residing in Danville, N.H., and traveling to health care appointments in Concord while LaPointe claimed she was residing in Cornish and traveling for health care appointments to the same facility in Concord as Bye.

In fact, prosecutors said that the couple had been actually living together at an address that was less than a mile and a half away from the treatment facility.

A third defendant in the case, Kimberly Patterson, 52, of Cornish, who has been charged with two counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of perjury, has a plea and sentencing hearing scheduled in Merrimack County Superior Court on May 30, according to court records. — John Lippman, Valley News