Law Summary (50939)

Rite Aid to pay $7MRite Aid Corp., of Camp Hill, Pa. agreed to pay $7 million to federal and state governments to settle allegations under the federal False Claims Act, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control announced yesterday. Under the settlement, 30 state Medicaid programs recovered more than $6.6 million, and other funds were paid to other federally funded health insurance programs. The national retail pharmacy chain allegedly “shorted” prescriptions ordered under various government health insurance programs, but received full payment from the programs.Carjacker pleads guiltyLeonard A. Davis, 23, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty yesterday in Baltimore City Circuit Court to three counts each of armed carjacking and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge Thomas J.S. Waxter Jr. sentenced Davis to seven years imprisonment — the first five to be served without possibility of parole — and two years supervised probation. Davis acknowledged carjacking in two separate incidents in September and October 2003; in both instances, the victims were released unharmed. Davis remains under medical care for various mental illnesses, a condition the judge considered in sentencing.Gun buyer tripped upRobert Edward Pasik Jr., of Dundalk, yesterday pleaded guilty to a single count of making a false statement on an application to purchase a regulated firearm. Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran said Pasik acknowledged denying in filling out an application form that he had ever been convicted by a juvenile court of a crime of violence when, in fact, he had been adjudicated delinquent for second-degree assault in 1998.10 more yearsA Somerset County Circuit Court judge sentenced an Eastern Correctional Institution inmate to 10 more years in prison for beating his cellmate to death. Melvin Davis was serving four years on drug charges when he got into a fight with his cellmate, Dennis Brown. Davis pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April and said he killed Brown in self-defense after he was hit with a sharp object.