BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – Federal authorities have arrested two men from Rhode Island and New York in an alleged $20 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving dentists’ offices in Connecticut.

Fifty-nine-year-old Gary Anusavice of North Kingstown, R.I., and 47-year-old Mehran Zamani of Pound Ridge, N.Y., were arrested Thursday on charges including health care fraud and making false statements. It’s not clear if they have lawyers.

Authorities allege Anusavice set up several dental practices in Connecticut, despite having been kicked out of Medicaid and other government health care programs after a 1997 conviction in Massachusetts for submitting false health care claims. Anusavice also lost his right to practice dentistry in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Authorities say Anusavice hired Zamani and other dentists to run the Connecticut offices, including ones in Stamford, Trumbull and West Haven.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)