YOUNGSTOWN - Two of the six people sentenced for their part in a multi-million Medicaid fraud scheme centered around an Austintown rehab facility are asking a judge to release them from prison.

Jennifer Sheridan, 42, of Austintown, and Kortney Gherardi, 31, have each filed court Motions for Compassionate Release in U.S. District Court.  The motions ask that a federal judge allow them to serve their sentences at home due to risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic while confined in prison.

Sheridan was sentenced in June to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud conspiracy in connection with a scheme to bill Medicaid $48 million for drug and alcohol services, many of which were not provided at Austintown’s Braking Point Recovery Center.

The court has not responded to Sheridan’s motion. However, Sheridan was granted a request report to prison thirty days later than the September 9 date ordered by the court.  Sheridan asked for the delay because of Coronavirus concerns and because her children were returning to school.

Gherardi, who was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment back in March after pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, has been denied Compassionate Release by the court which ruled that she failed to establish “extraordinary and compelling” reasons for release.

She has filed a notice that she intends to appeal the denial in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and remains held in the Lexington Federal Medical Center in Kentucky.  She is scheduled for release one year from this month.