PITTSBURGH - The head of a now-defunct suburban Pittsburgh nursing home where an Alzheimer's patient died after wandering outside in the cold was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges.

The indictment, handed up by a Pittsburgh federal grand jury, also charges the former Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center with health care fraud and false statements relating to health care matters.

The fraud charges against former administrator Martha Fenchak-Bell, 58, of West Mifflin, and the now closed Robinson Township nursing home come on top of charges filed by Allegheny County prosecutors stemming from the Oct. 26, 2001, death of Mabel Taylor. Taylor, 88, died after she was locked out of the 120-bed facility in 40-degree temperatures.

Federal prosecutors claim Fenchak-Bell and the nursing home defrauded Medicare and Medicaid from 1999 to 2003 by forging records and inflating the care they gave the home's residents, most of whom had Alzheimer's disease.

Fenchak-Bell and Atrium, among other things, altered nurses' records to hide bruises and sores, forged doctors' signatures on medical records and altered doctors' orders for laboratory work and medications, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Fenchak-Bell and the nursing home shortchanged patients by not hiring enough employees to care for them properly and cutting services rather than paying vendors.

Fenchak-Bell is also accused of skimming money from the nursing home by having the home make payments to three nonprofit organizations she ran - the Alzheimer's Disease Alliance of Western Pennsylvania, The Alzheimer's Disease Foundation and Geriatric Healthcare Associates.

Neither Alexander Lindsay, an attorney for the nursing home and Fenchak-Bell, nor Thomas Ceraso, another of Fenchak-Bell's attorneys, immediately returned phone calls for comment Tuesday. Fenchak-Bell did not immediately return a phone call for comment left at her home.

Fenchak-Bell could face up to 60 years in prison and a fine of more than $2.5 million if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.

Another nonprofit corporation, calledt

he Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center could be fined as much as $5.5 million if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, Fenchak-Bell is awaiting trial on county charges of involuntary manslaughter, neglect of a care-dependent person, conspiracy and reckless endangerment in Taylor's death. A nonprofit headed by Fenchak-Bell and that owned the home - the Alzheimer's Disease Alliance of Western Pennsylvania - faces involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a care-dependent person charges.

Allegheny County prosecutors allege Bell and a supervisor - Kathryn Galati - conspired to cover up Taylor's death. Investigators believe Taylor either walked out a door that was propped open, or one where the alarm was deactivated so workers could go outside and smoke. Taylor fell and died of a combination of heart failure and exposure.

Allegheny County prosecutors claim Fenchak-Bell ordered Galati to have Taylor's body carried back into the home and to alter records to make it appear Taylor died in her sleep.

Lindsay has argued that neither the home nor Fenchak-Bell should be held responsible for Taylor's death because there was no way to know Taylor would wander outside.

Galati is awaiting trial on perjury and false swearing for allegedly lying at a hearing and conspiracy and tampering with evidence in the alleged cover-up.

The federal charges are the latest in a series of problems at the now-defunct home.

In July 2003, the Pennsylvania Department of Health fined the home $12,000 and put it on a provisional license after officials said an inspection turned up evidence of patients falling, losing weight and wandering around unsupervised.

In October, Fenchak-Bell and Galati were criminally charged by Allegheny County prosecutors, and the bank that owned the nursing home - Johnstown-based AmeriServ Financial Corp. - foreclosed on the property, citing $10 million in outstanding loans.

Late last year, the Alzheimer's Disease Alliance of Western Pennsylvania filed for bankruptcy. AmeriServ bought the home for $2.9 million at a January sheriff's sale and sold it last month to a Pittsburgh company for troubled youths, said Gary McKeown, senior vice president and chief lending officer for AmeriServ.