Toshirea Jackson, 49, of Bridgeport, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty yesterday in Bridgeport to one count of health care fraud.

Jackson and Juliet Jacob operated two businesses, Transitional Development And Training and It Takes A Promise, which provided social and psychotherapy services, beginning in January 2012.

Jackson and Jacob used ITAP and TDAT to bill Medicaid for psychotherapy services that were never provided. As part of their scheme, Jackson and Jacob used the Medicaid provider numbers of two licensed health care providers who had neither rendered nor supervised any of the psychotherapy services that Jackson and Jacob billed to Medicaid.

Jackson and the two licensed providers were employees of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The two providers did not authorize Jackson or Jacob to obtain provider numbers for them at TDAT or ITAP, and were not aware that TDAT or ITAP were billing Medicaid as if the providers had personally rendered the psychotherapy services.

Nikkita Chesney, who was employed by a health care provider that provided substance abuse treatment, including a detoxification program in Bridgeport, in March 2012 began to steal the personal identification information of Medicaid clients who were patients of her employer.

The personal identifying information included the patients’ Medicaid identification number, Social Security numbers and dates of birth.

Jackson, Jacob and Chesney then used the stolen identity information to bill Medicaid for psychotherapy services purportedly provided by TDAT and ITAP, when the Medicaid clients had never received any such services from TDAT or ITAP.

In pleading guilty, Jackson admitted that the scheme involved stealing the identity of more than 150 Medicaid clients, and that she and her co-conspirators successfully billed Medicaid for approximately half of those clients. Jackson further admitted that she and her co-conspirators also billed Medicaid for services to other clients that were never provided to those clients.

When she is sentenced, Jackson faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. She also has agreed to a restitution order of nearly $2.5 million. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

Jackson is released on a $25,000 bond pending sentencing.

Jacob pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud for her role in this scheme and a separate Medicaid fraud scheme on Oct. 18. Chesney pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on Oct. 23. Both await sentencing.

Five other individuals have been charged and convicted of health care fraud offenses as a result of this and related investigations.