UTICA - Ole Pettersen is facing numerous counts of falsifying business records, among other charges, after allegedly cheating the State Health Department out of thousands of dollars in Medicaid benefits.

And Monday, he rejected a plea deal presented by the State Attorney General's office. What that means is that now Pettersen's case will be going to trial.

The only time Pettersen hesitated with an answer Monday is when Judge Michael Dwyer informed him that if he rejected the plea deal, he could spend up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. And even then, he still stood by his answer.

Pettersen is facing 16 criminal counts, including falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing. Pettersen is the former executive director of the Center for Addiction Recovery in Clinton.

The Attorney General's Office alleges that Pettersen filed false claims to Medicaid for services not actually provided in 2003 and 2004.

According to court documents, those claims include assessing and evaluating clients for the chemical dependency program, as well as medical treatments.

Right now, Pettersen's lawyer, Frank Policelli, was supposes to have looked through the Attorney General's evidence by Monday - but says he will require more time for this case.

"There's just been volumes and volumes of documents that need to be reviewed in connection with the indictment," Policelli said. "Some documents have been provided. I know Mr. Tortora told me there's other documents he has I can arrange to review."

In response, Ralph Tortora of the Attorney General's Office says all of the documents related to this case have been given to Policelli. Neither attorney would comment further on the case when asked.

The next time Pettersen is scheduled to be in court is June 9. That will be to make sure everyone is on the same page and the discovery of evidence is complete.

Judge Dwyer says he hopes to schedule the trial sometime in late June or early July.