TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline)--Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is suing a Miami pharmacy owner that allegedly defrauded the state's Medicaid program out of more than $400,000.

McCollum and U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta have joined forces in the prosecution of pharmacist Marilyn Garcia Ferro, who owns and operates the Accu Care Services Inc. pharmacy in Miami.

Garcia Ferro was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and five counts of health care fraud after being indicted by a federal grand jury.

Garcia Ferro billed the Medicaid program for expensive HIV/AIDS medications, along with other medications that were not determined to be medically necessary over a period of five years, McCollum said in a statement.

For each count of the indictment, Garcia Ferro could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Florida's attorney general has been responsible for policing Florida's now $16 billion per year Medicaid program since 1994 when Florida's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit was placed under the office's supervision.

McCollum's office says such fraud in Florida can cost residents hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Lin Young at linyoung10@gmail.com.