Multi-agency investigation recovers $630K in stolen vehicles; 2 arrested, SBI says

Federal prosecutors announced indictments May 21 against 15 people accused of defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of $90 million, but the nation’s top law enforcement officer was absent from the Minneapolis press conference where the charges were unveiled.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche did not attend the event, instead appearing in Washington to defend a $1.776 billion fund that would compensate claims from allies of President Donald Trump, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Days before the press conference, the Justice Department released a memo stating the IRS is “forever barred” from investigating past tax returns of Trump and his family.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz joined DOJ officials at the Minneapolis event, where they alleged defendants billed for services never provided, exploited vulnerable children and adults, and used stolen funds to purchase luxury vehicles and real estate.

“My message is this: eat, drink and be merry today, because your days of frolicking and freedom are numbered,” said Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general overseeing the Justice Department’s Fraud and Enforcement Division.

Court filings describe what prosecutors characterize as a multi-year Medicaid fraud operation. In one case, defendants Muhammad Abdulqadir Omar and Ibrahim Bashir Abdi allegedly operated two home health care LLCs as fronts to submit fraudulent claims and falsified case notes, bilking $3.8 million from the state Department of Human Services. Prosecutors allege the two used the money to invest a combined $170,000 in Kenyan real estate and purchase a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz.

Oz referenced a 32-year-old defendant, displaying a blurry still photo of Omar, who allegedly jumped from a fourth-floor balcony before being arrested later that night. “Those people need our help because of that man,” Oz said. “This gentleman, this picture, is one of the reasons that the housing stabilization program in this fine state is shut down.”

DOJ officials also announced that the Health Care Fraud Strike Force will add 11 new prosecutors nationwide to combat growing Medicaid fraud. The expansion comes amid a wave of departures from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, with prosecutors resigning in protest over the DOJ’s refusal to investigate federal agent Jonathan Ross, who shot and killed Renee Good during an immigration enforcement operation earlier this year.

While federal officials highlighted the fraud cases, a victim of the fraud’s ripple effects raised pointed questions at the press conference. Aaron Johnson, an independent photojournalist, suffered a stroke six years ago. A COVID-19 diagnosis combined with an autoimmune disease left him paralyzed from the neck down. He said years of Medicaid and housing assistance benefits were lost in the fallout from widespread fraud.

“I was approved for Housing Stability Services in December 2023, which came after a four-year fight to get my disability benefits,” Johnson told the Spokesman-Recorder. “But between December 2023 and right now in May 2026, I just got my first assistance payment in the right amount.”

Johnson’s application for Group Residential Housing, a program that allows renters with disabilities to cap rent at 30% of income, was finally approved in May.

At the press conference, Johnson pressed McDonald directly. “I’m a victim of HSS fraud. I hear all these plans to prevent it… is there any course of action? Is there a plan to compensate victims like myself for damages?” he asked.

McDonald offered few specifics. “The president issued an executive order that relates to the establishment of a fund for victims of fraud. President Trump announced that around 60 days ago,” he said.

Minnesota officials pushed back on the White House framing, defending the state’s existing anti-fraud efforts.

“The investigators and prosecutors in Attorney General Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit regularly work alongside federal law enforcement to go after those who defraud Medicaid,” said John Stiles, chief of staff to Attorney General Keith Ellison. “The federal law enforcement agents based in Minnesota who work directly with Attorney General Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit have never once expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the MFCU, which regularly ranks as one of the most effective Medicaid fraud units in the nation.”

DHS Inspector General James Clark also responded on social media. “My office continues to use our administrative power to shut off money to these and other Medicaid providers as soon as we uncover credible allegations of fraud, which we’ve done more than 600 times over the past 18 months,” Clark wrote. “In fact, we stopped payments to some of the businesses connected to today’s charges more than a year ago.”

A Lehigh Acres nurse was arrested on May 22 in Connecticut. She’s accused of defrauding Connecticut’s Medicaid program using false claims, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut.

According to the release, Marisol Rodriguez, 49, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), defrauded the Connecticut Medicaid Program by submitting fraudulent claims for medication management services that were not provided to Medicaid patients.

As an APRN, Rodriguez was licensed to prescribe controlled substances to Medicaid recipients, and billed Medicaid for medication management services to these patients. The complaint alleges Rodriguez billed Medicaid:

For services not rendered.
For services purportedly rendered to patients, sometimes for months or years after the patients stopped seeing her.
While working full-time at a different employer.
While collecting unemployment benefits after being terminated by that employer.
For services purportedly rendered to patients that were hospitalized, incarcerated, or dead.
In total, the release says, it’s alleged that more than 15,000 Medicaid claims totaling more than $1.35 million were paid out to Rodriguez between Jan. 2022 and Aug. 2025.

Among her peers of 116 other APRNs, Rodriguez made approximately 5,000 more claims and was paid approximately $500,000 more than the second highest billing APRN, according to an analysis conducted by the Connecticut Department of Social Services.

The complaint adds that for actual patients Rodriguez frequently did not review their medical history before prescribing controlled substances and did not consider how those prescriptions would react when combined with existing medications or prescriptions.

Overall, Rodriguez faces charges of health care fraud and making false statements relating to health care matters. After appearing before a judge she was released on a $100,000 bond.

Indictments filed this month by the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost accuse five Medicaid providers of stealing a combined $542,176 from the government health-care program for the needy. Three additional people face charges for allegedly stealing from nursing home residents.

“Caregivers are meant to protect the vulnerable, not exploit them,” Yost said. “My office will never tolerate thieves who line their pockets at the expense of elderly, disabled and low-income Ohioans.” The cases include two providers who billed for in-home services while traveling in the Caribbean, a home-health aide who billed while a client was hospitalized, and a Columbus man who allegedly stole money from a relative with dementia. One of the defendants alone accounts for more than $400,000 of the alleged fraud. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, an arm of Yost’s office, investigated the cases and secured the indictments in Franklin County. Darnicia Burge, 27, of Cleveland, allegedly forged timesheets and double-billed for overlapping shifts at two jobs, resulting in a $1,969 loss for Medicaid. An investigation revealed 272 instances in which Burge billed for home-health services while her timesheets showed she was physically clocked into her other job at a care facility. Kimberly Henry, 56, of Columbus, is accused of billing for in-home services while her client was hospitalized for four months. The loss to Medicaid from October 2024 to February 2025 totaled $16,102. Ebony Jones, 23, of Akron, was charged after investigators calculated a $412,219 loss for Medicaid. Investigators initially found that she allegedly billed for in-home services during nine trips to Jamaica from 2022 through 2025. Further investigation revealed that she also billed for daily services to two clients who reported they had not seen her in three years. Robert Lomas, 62, of Defiance, was charged with Medicaid fraud in connection with his job as a licensed independent chemical dependency counselor. Billing records and client interviews revealed that he allegedly billed routinely for counseling that never took place, leading to a $106,620 loss for Medicaid. Columbus residents Astashiona McDonald, 26, and Diamond Tate, 27, were indicted on charges of forgery and theft from a person in a protected class for allegedly stealing $3,500 from a resident of a Columbus long-term-care facility. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit launched an investigation after the resident reported nine missing checks, two of which had been cashed. Investigators discovered the checks were written to and cashed by McDonald, whom the victim did not know. Tate, an aide at the facility and McDonald’s romantic partner, allegedly worked with McDonald to facilitate the theft. Brian Otler, 43, of Columbus, faces charges of theft from a person in a protected class and misuse of credit cards. From December 2024 to March 2025, he allegedly stole $35,335 from an elderly relative suffering from dementia. Evidence shows he accessed the relative’s bank accounts without authorization to pay off personal debt while the victim was living in a long-term-care facility. Tina Turner, 54, of Ironton, allegedly billed for services while traveling on Caribbean cruises in 2024 and 2025, causing a $5,266 loss for Medicaid. When questioned, she claimed the billing was justified because she routinely worked uncompensated hours, an assertion refuted by her clients. She ultimately acknowledged that billing for nonexistent services is fraud.

Ohio’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which operates within the Health Care Fraud Section, collaborates with federal, state and local partners to root out Medicaid fraud and protect vulnerable adults from harm. The unit investigates and prosecutes health-care providers who defraud the state Medicaid program and enforces the state’s Patient Abuse and Neglect Law. Indictments are criminal allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law.