CONCORD — A 32-year-old Claremont man will serve time in prison after pleading guilty for his role in a Medicaid fraud scheme in which he submitted false reimbursement claims for travel to his drug rehab program.

Joseph Bye was sentenced to one and a half to three year in state prison to be followed by a consecutive three to six year sentence, fully suspended for 10 years, on convictions related to the fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney for the State of New Hampshire announced on Thursday.

In addition, the court ordered Bye to pay restitution of $21,771 and banned him from future participation in the mileage reimbursement program.

Bye stole $21,771 from the New Hampshire Medicaid program between 2020 and 2022 by submitting false claims for mileage reimbursement under the Family and Friends Mileage Reimbursement Program. He claimed he was traveling to rehab appointments in Concord from Danville, N.H., some 40 miles away when, in fact Bye lived in Concord less than 1½ miles from the treatment facility.

Sara Lapointe, 29, also from Claremont, who was residing with Bye in Concord at the time, had similarly claimed that she was traveling to the same facility in Concord from Cornish, some 65 miles away. Lapointe pleaded guilty and was previously sentenced to 12-months in jail plus five years to 10 years in state prison, fully suspended.