A special needs school that was at the center of a Medicaid fraud investigation will reopen under new management Wednesday morning.
The Lodestone Academy, which has another campus near downtown Orlando, took over the shuttered Angels Center for Autism, which was closed after Maria Navarro, its owner, and Judith Benech, an administrator, were accused of filing $4.6 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims.
The women are accused of using the money to buy three homes and more than a dozen cars.
Investigators said the pair billed Medicaid for eight-hour one-on-one therapy sessions with students, but officials said they only had enough staffing to provide two-hour sessions.
Josh Pritchard, the new school's president, said the center has passed state inspections and will reopen at 9 a.m.
The school will serve 15 students, and officials are reviewing applications for five additional students, Pritchard said.
Seven employees will be work at the school, two of whom were employed by the previous school.
Pritchard said he sought to hire instructors and therapists who specialize in applied behavior analysis.
“We are going to start with assessing where the students are and use that to individualize their curriculum,” he said. “(We’ll) get rolling with getting their education back on track.”
Pritchard said he welcomes parents to stop by the school to see all that has changed.
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