Alabama DHR Woman Indicted: Faking Credentials and Collecting $864K in Medicaid funds for Kidnapping Children

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Excerpts:

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF)

A woman accused of faking her credentials to counsel children in custody cases with the Department of Human Resources has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of deceiving the public.

We first told you about Angel Gieske in February, after a mother contacted us when she lost custody of her children under Gieske’s recommendation.

“Almost all my rights have been removed. I see my children every other Sunday for three hours,” said Tina Berryman.

The fight over custody played out in a Colbert County courtroom in 2012.

Angel Gieske took the stand as an expert witness in behavioral therapy and analysis.

With a little digging we found out the woman who claimed to be doctor Gieske with a license in counseling was no doctor. Up until last fall, Gieske was an approved Medicaid vendor to work with DHR custody cases in 6 counties.

She collected more than $864,000 in Medicaid funds, and cashed in the most money and had the most cases in Lauderdale and Colbert Counties.

Sources:

Woman accused of fake credentials indicted on theft charges

WAFF 48 Investigates: Controversy over counselor’s credentials

Published on May 20, 2015

5 Comments

Thomas May 22, 2015 at 12:10 pm - Reply

My life was totally messed up by having been brought up in Foster care.  I’ll leave it at that.  I hope this “doctor” receives the appropriate punishment AND apologizes to all the families that she harmed so much.

1cpsdestroyer May 21, 2015 at 11:53 pm - Reply

To tell the truth–I don’t know what’s worse–pretending to be a Doctor, doing evaluations and making recommendations or actually being a doctor and doing it–they seem to always follow the money no matter what their credentials as referrals from the family court system appear to be their bread and butter and ticket to a secure future.

Tina Berryman May 21, 2015 at 5:57 pm - Reply

Yes it is the TIP of the ICEBERG…She also did PRIVATE Practice through a 501c3 Faith Based Company  out of Loretto Tenn. called Turning Leaf Counseling and Theraputic Services and the Mother in the above Referenced case was Me. DHR was Not involved in my case apparently she was recommended by my ex and his dad by a local Attorney Denise Burch with Burch Law Firm. SHe has been called to testify in thousands of custody cases under the quise DR. Gieske. This attorney called her as well as another Local Licensed Counselor Lynn McLean who has sense had her Licensed Revoked by the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling…this is as you say a MONEY making scheme played out daily in our Family Law Courts through out this state and across the country. The only way to fight such legal kidnapping is to Reform LAw in Family Court systems… To get involved and tolearn more go to the ALFRA web site and join…( ALABAMA FAMILY RIGHTS ASSOCIATION)…

Elizabeth Freebird May 20, 2015 at 6:40 pm - Reply

Holy crap! She was a custody evaluator and made recommendations to the court??? wow.

dbcafge May 20, 2015 at 11:40 am - Reply

It has been and continues to be all about MONEY, I will bet the farm that this is just the tip of the ice burg, With state and fed funding at finger tip access, kidnapping has become for CPS the way to make more money than they ever dreamed of.