Arrest - InsuranceFraud.org

Two people were placed under arrest after the El Paso Police Department’s Auto Theft Task Force investigated a reported vehicle theft at a local body shop in Central El Paso.

A victim reported paying thousands of dollars for repair and paint services on a vehicle at Junior Auto Collision, located at 4200 Dyer Street, according to police.

The victim stated that after multiple assurances that the work was nearly complete, they were shown an unfinished result and were unable to retrieve the vehicle.

The shop allegedly cut communication with the victim and vacated the location, police said.

The Auto Theft Task Force and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted an investigation, leading them to locate Emmanuel Cervantes, 42, and Gema Fernanda Garcia, 23.

Cervantes is facing charges of deceptive business with previous conviction, insurance fraud, failure to ID as fugitive with intent to give false information, and theft of property. The total bond amount is set at $95,500.

Garcia is being charged with theft of property with a bond amount of $3,500.

This is an ongoing investigation, and we will update as we know more.

Five people have been charged in a federal health care fraud case in Middle Georgia, according to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

The indictment names Dawn James-Ellis, Lamonica Lakes, Tarshea Fudge-Riley, Angela Childs, and Adrian Harris as defendants.

According to the indictment, the defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The indictment also charges James-Ellis with identity theft.

Federal prosecutors say the case involves the submission of fraudulent claims for mental health therapy services to health care benefit programs, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and Optum.

How the scheme is described
The indictment says the conduct described in the case occurred from as early as January 2019 through December 2022.

According to the indictment, James-Ellis, a licensed therapist who operated “Therapy On the Go” in Montezuma, directed others to create therapy session notes for services that did not occur.

Prosecutors say those notes were then used to support insurance claims submitted for reimbursement.

The indictment says claims were submitted for therapy sessions that did not occur and, in some instances, for more than 24 hours of services in a single day.

According to the indictment, claims were also submitted for sessions listed on weekends, holidays, and times when the therapist was away on vacation.

The indictment states some individuals were paid to provide their insurance information, while in other cases, that information was used without their knowledge.

According to the indictment, health care benefit programs were billed for and made payments totaling millions of dollars for services prosecutors say were not provided.

The indictment includes a forfeiture notice stating that, if convicted, the defendants could be required to forfeit property tied to the proceeds of the offenses.

Arrest warrants for the five were also issued. According to court records, the indictment was made public today.

A nonprofit nursing home was bilked out of nearly $110,000 after suspects hacked their way into an email thread about legitimate heating system repairs and redirected payments to a bogus company.

Police in Pennsylvania and Colorado are now on the case, having charged two men with theft by deception, conspiracy and dealing in proceeds of an unlawful act after police said they stole $108,176.50 from Trillium Place by Tandem Living.

The nursing home, part of a 120-year-old senior care organization in quiet Lancaster County, PA, reported the fraud to local police after their real vendor raised concerns about missing payments in December.

Officials this week announced they had issued warrants for two suspects in the case and outlined their MO. The theft was enabled by emails exchanged by the nursing home and Frey Lutz, a local mechanical contractor set to replace a boiler at the facility.

Manheim Township police said it appeared an email contact at Frey Lutz “was compromised” and at some point, Trillium Place received a reply from someone posing as an employee of the vendor but using a fake email address. The nursing home sent $108,176.50 in payments to JSM Properties, a front for the hackers, in November.

It didn’t learn of any problems until the real company’s controller reached out to collect payment in December. That’s when police said they got involved and traced two payments to a Colorado bank and suspects Shawn Patrick Martin, 59, of Denver and Sandro Dzigoshvili, 36, of Brooklyn, NY.

After the fraud was discovered, police said Trillium was able to cancel a $5,693 payment that had been sent in addition to the first check.

Med-Net Concepts on Tuesday warned that increased reliance on electronic communications to manage vendor relationships can leave skilled nursing operators vulnerable to hacks.

“As these systems become more integrated into daily operations, they also present increased risk for cyber-related fraud schemes, including email compromise and impersonation of legitimate vendors,” the compliance shop wrote. “When unauthorized individuals gain access to or manipulate email communications, they may be able to redirect payments, alter banking information, or create fraudulent accounts that appear legitimate. These schemes can be difficult to detect without strong internal safeguards, and they often result in significant financial losses before being identified.”

Strong verification processes and system controls are essential to reduce risk. Med-Net recommended facility policies require independent verification of any request to update payment details using previously established contact information, not information contained within incoming emails.

“Dual approval processes for large or unusual payments should be enforced, along with documented steps for validating vendor identity. Facilities may also benefit from periodic review of these policies with an external compliance or risk management consultant to help ensure that controls remain current, effective, and aligned with evolving cyber fraud risks.”

A man accused of orchestrating an $11 million Medicaid fraud scheme in Minnesota skipped a scheduled court appearance this week, prompting a warrant for his arrest, authorities said.

Abdirashid Ismail Said, 50, failed to appear for a pretrial hearing in Hennepin County, forfeiting his bond, according Fox 9, citing the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his office is working with federal authorities to locate Said.

“A warrant has been issued for Said’s arrest after he failed to appear for a pretrial hearing,” Ellison told the outlet. “My Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is working with federal law enforcement to locate Said and ensure he faces justice for the fraud he committed.

“This is a deeply frustrating setback. However, I remain committed to doing everything I can to hold Said and other Medicaid fraudsters accountable.”

Said posted a $150,000 unconditional bond to avoid stricter conditions, including surrendering his passport, while a $50,000 conditional bond would have required it, according to FOX 9. Investigators also raised concerns about Said’s potential to flee, citing family ties abroad, according to FOX 9.

Prosecutors charged Said with racketeering and multiple counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle in an alleged scheme that defrauded Minnesota’s Medicaid program of nearly $11 million, according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint alleges Said carried out the scheme from 2019 through 2023 by secretly operating multiple Medicaid-funded home health care agencies despite being barred from working with such programs after a prior fraud conviction.

Authorities said Said and his co-conspirators billed Medicaid for services that were never provided, weren’t properly recorded or were backed by fake paperwork. Investigators also allege the group billed for services that weren’t eligible for payment and charged more than they should have.

According to court documents, the scheme involved millions of dollars in fraudulent billing, including more than $4.6 million paid to one agency based on falsified documentation. Investigators also found nearly $1 million was billed for clients who denied receiving services, along with more than $300,000 in overbilling and more than $5.8 million in claims that were not documented or were fraudulently documented.

Court records show Said was convicted of Medicaid fraud in 2022, ordered to pay $77,000 and barred from working with any Medicaid-funded agency, a restriction prosecutors allege he later violated.

The case has raised new concerns about oversight of taxpayer-funded programs, as state leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, have faced mounting criticism over their handling of fraud in Minnesota.

The development comes amid broader concerns over fraud in Minnesota, including the sprawling Feeding Our Future case, in which prosecutors allege defendants created fake meal programs and fraudulently claimed more than $250 million in federal funds.

Former acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson has suggested fraud across some programs could total billions of dollars, potentially reaching $9 billion.

State officials have faced ongoing questions about oversight of taxpayer-funded programs, with critics pointing to additional fraud cases involving Medicaid and welfare spending.

A Miramar public adjuster already facing prosecution in a similar case was arrested again last week, this time accused of diverting more than $610,000 in insurance settlement money meant for homeowners whose properties were damaged by Hurricane Ian. Following an investigation by the Florida Department of Financial Services, which reviewed complaints from several policyholders, police arrested Francisco Javier Chaparro-Araus, 46, who operated All Elements Public Adjusters in Miramar.

Chaparro-Araus was booked March 30 into the Broward County Jail and charged with fraud, grand theft and misappropriation of funds.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Chaparro-Araus deposited insurance settlement checks paid by insurers to homeowners into a Bank of America business account he controlled and failed to distribute the money to the homeowners. “Although the settlement checks were deposited into a Bank of America business account solely controlled by the defendant, he unlawfully withheld and failed to remit a total of $611,473.39 in insurance settlement proceeds owed to [10] separate policyholders,” the affidavit states. Investigators say Chaparro-Araus spent the money through online transfers, debit card purchases and “substantial cash withdrawals” while gambling at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood and Calder Casinos in Miami Gardens, according to the affidavit. State records show Chaparro-Araus, who resides in Miramar, had his Florida public adjuster license suspended in 2015 and again in 2024. His company is no longer licensed, according to Florida Department of Financial Services records.

Investigators said Chaparro-Araus began soliciting claims in 2022 after Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Southwest Florida. He targeted homeowners who had sustained storm damage. It’s unclear where the damaged homes were located, but Hurricane Ian strongly impacted Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach. Authorities say Chaparro-Araus signed contracts with several homeowners agreeing to take no more than 10% of their insurance payments as his fee. The latest arrest is not the first time Chaparro-Araus has faced similar allegations. In July 2024, state investigators arrested him on charges stemming from a complaint by American Traditions Insurance Co. In that case, the insurer issued checks totaling about $130,000. Investigators said Chaparro-Araus sent the homeowner a $30,000 check that was later returned for insufficient funds. Authorities said much of that insurance payment was also spent at the same casinos in 2023. A trial in that initial case is scheduled for June.

The 29-year-old man charged in connection with fires that burned down a paper products warehouse in California was allegedly motivated by anti-capitalism sentiment and compared himself to Luigi Mangione, authorities said Friday.

Chamel Abdulkarim, of Highland, California, was charged by federal authorities with arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce, Bill Essayli, the first assistant United States attorney, said at a news conference Friday morning.

Abdulkarim is accused of intentionally starting multiple fires at a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse on Tuesday. The warehouse was located in Ontario, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, and was owned by the consumer goods company Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Authorities have said Abdulkarim was an employee of NFI Industries, a third-party distribution company for Kimberly-Clark products.

Essayli said the charge carries a five year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

There were at least 20 people at the warehouse when the fires began, authorities said, but no one has been reported injured.

Abdulkarim was also charged by the state of California with one count of aggravated arson and six additional counts of arson related to each fire he is accused of starting at the warehouse, Jason Anderson, the San Bernardino County district attorney, said at the news conference.

The first state charge carries the special circumstance of the damage from the arson reaching more than $10.1 million, Anderson said. That charge carries a penalty of 10 years to life. An initial estimate found the paper products inside the warehouse to be worth $500 million, with the building itself worth $150 million.

Abdulkarim is accused of filming himself setting fire to pallets of paper inside the Kimberly-Clark warehouse on Tuesday morning and posting the videos to social media, Essayli said.

“You could hear his voice repeating several times, ‘All you had to do was pay us enough to live,’” Essayli said, adding that the suspect appeared to be motivated by “hostility to capitalism and corporations.”

“The final video posted on Instagram showed the fire spreading throughout the warehouse and the defendant saying, ‘There goes your inventory,’” Essayli said.

The U.S. attorney said Abdulkarim allegedly sent a text message to a co-worker about an hour after the fire that read, “All you had to do was pay us enough to live. Pay us more of the value WE bring. Not corporate. Didn’t see the shareholders picking up a shift.”

Essayli said that in a phone call, Abdulkarim allegedly “compared himself to Luigi Mangione.”

Abdulkarim was expected to be arraigned on the state charges in court on Friday.

A Jacksonville construction boss is in serious trouble after state investigators say he lowballed his company’s payroll to dodge roughly $300,000 in workers’ compensation premiums, leaving his crew and competitors holding the bag.

According to Tampa Free Press, the defendant, Carlos Antonio Maradiaga Garcia, is accused of running a construction firm with a real payroll close to $2 million while telling his insurer it was just $25,000. That is not a rounding error, and investigators say the alleged shortfall translated into nearly $300,000 in unpaid workers’ comp premiums. He was arrested by the Department of Financial Services’ Criminal Investigations Division and processed in Jacksonville, and is charged with workers’ compensation premium fraud and an organized scheme to defraud, the outlet reports.

State officials say Maradiaga is also in the country illegally and is under an active removal order from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Tampa Free Press.

“I have made it abundantly clear that those who are committing fraud in the state of Florida will face the fullest extent of the law,” Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia told reporters, as quoted by Tampa Free Press.

State crackdown on premium fraud
Ingoglia has turned fraud enforcement into a marquee issue for the Department of Financial Services, with his office regularly rolling out press releases on arrests tied to workers’ compensation and contracting scams. In a statement highlighted by MyFloridaCFO, the department framed aggressive prosecutions as a way to protect taxpayers and give law-abiding contractors a fair shot at competing on price.

How these schemes typically work
Investigators say schemes like the one alleged here usually rely on underreporting payroll, using shell companies, or paying workers in cash so that the books make a big crew look like a tiny operation. That lets a business buy workers’ comp coverage priced for a much smaller staff, saving on premiums while the full workforce remains effectively uninsured. Florida has seen a string of similar cases in recent years, prompting criminal prosecutions and civil actions, as covered by Insurance Journal and prior Hoodline reporting such as Orlando Trio Admit Guilt.

Legal exposure and penalties
Under Florida law, an organized scheme to defraud is a serious felony, and once the loss amount crosses certain thresholds, prosecutors can charge it as a first degree felony. A first degree felony in Florida carries a statutory maximum of up to 30 years in prison, and courts can also order restitution and other civil remedies. The sentencing structure and elements of organized fraud are laid out in the relevant Florida Statutes.

Maradiaga’s arrest adds one more case to the list state officials point to as proof that their fraud push is catching contractors who they say undercut legitimate businesses and drive up costs for everyone else. He remains in custody while the case moves through the courts, where prosecutors will decide whether to pursue additional counts or seek enhanced penalties.

A Lee County woman has been charged with insurance fraud following an investigation into a vehicle collision claim, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Authorities said Zanajia Lachae’ Wilson-James, 29, was charged April 2, 2026, with Presenting a False Claim for an Insurance Payment, Value $10,000 or More. The investigation was requested by the South Carolina Department of Insurance.

According to an arrest warrant, the charge stems from a Feb. 16, 2025 motor vehicle collision, where another driver struck Wilson-James’ parked vehicle.

Investigators said Wilson-James initially reported to the South Carolina Highway Patrol that she was the sole occupant of the vehicle. However, authorities allege that during a subsequent insurance claim with Progressive, she “knowingly assisted, solicited, and or conspired to submit false claim for insurance payment” by reporting that another person was in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Following an investigation by Progressive and SLED, authorities determined that the additional person was not in the vehicle during the accident.

The case will be prosecuted by the South Carolina Department of Insurance.

A Thornton woman has been indicted on more than 20 counts of charges, including fraud, theft, and forgery. In a March 27, 2026, indictment by a grand jury, Cindy Burdine is accused of staging fake robberies of her Boulder dance studio, Kenesis Dance, and committing insurance fraud. Burdine is also accused of using at least some of that money from insurance for cosmetic surgery.

The Colorado Attorney General’s office is calling the indictment “Operation Tiny Dancer.”

The indictment claims Burdine profited more than $500,000 from insurance companies after the two staged robberies. One of the alleged robberies occurred in July 2023, in which the indictment states Burdine enlisted the help of another employee to damage her own studio and hire two people to show up in security footage as burglars. The indictment also charges Burdine with attempting to influence a Boulder police officer.

A complaint from the attorney for the landlord of Burdine’s Table Mesa Shopping Center studio also claims Burdine owed about $50,000 in overdue rent. The studio now sits empty with an eviction notice on the door dated in February of this year.

Beyond the indictment, parents and former employees of the dance studio shared a trail of complaints, including parents who claim to have lost thousands of dollars to credit card charges. Two former employees shared with CBS Colorado that they are relieved to see formal charges coming to light. The indictment shows a former employee is the one who tipped off the AG’s office to insurance fraud at the studio.

Lizzie Friend was a customer of Kinesis Dance (also known as Frequency Dance) and says she took her daughter to Burdine’s studio for years. When asked about her reaction to the indictment, she said, “It’s so much worse than we even thought.”

In 2023, Friend says she left the studio amid the alleged robberies and as other financial “red flags” with the studio came up for parents.

“[Burdine] would put through a really big charge on all the company parents’ credit cards. So, you’d see, you know, an $800 charge. And she’d say, ‘This is for an upcoming competition,’ and then a few weeks or months later, the competition would be canceled. She’d say, ‘We’ll roll it into the next one,'” Friend said those future competitions also never came.

Friend says when she left the studio and went through her charges, she was out close to $4,500. Friend says she asked for a refund.

“[Burdine] said, you know, ‘Great, checks in the mail. It’s on its way.’ And then she went full no contact,” Friend said.

So Friend filed a complaint with the Boulder District Attorney’s Office. In the complaint, Friend claims that on at least one occasion, after parents had paid Burdine for a competition, the dance competition host confirmed to a parent that Burdine never paid.

After working with the DA’s office, Friend says she got her money back, but says not every parent did. Friend explained that when the studio shut down in the middle of a season this year, she was told some parents were out thousands of dollars.

“If your kid’s dancing on a competitive team, they spend 10 plus hours at the studio every week,” Friend said, “We trusted our kids to someone who clearly made some really bad decisions and doesn’t have a great moral compass, and that’s scary.”

CBS Colorado reached out to Burdine by phone, email, and even visited her home, which the indictment claimed was listed as her business address, but did not hear back.

“It’s really good to see this finally coming out, and I’m glad she can’t cause any more harm to parents and kids,” Friend said.

Burdine’s bail has been set at $10,000, but she does not appear in any local jail records. Boulder police and the Colorado Attorney General’s office were unable to confirm if she had been arrested.

Attorney General Dan Rayfield today announced charges against a Portland area behavioral health provider and his business for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Oregon’s Medicaid program. The Oregon Department of Justice’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) also secured convictions in two additional Multnomah County cases involving Medicaid fraud.

“Medicaid exists to make sure people can get the help they need – for their health, their housing, their children’s mental wellbeing,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “These cases show what’s at stake when people in positions of trust choose to exploit that system for personal gain. We will continue to hold accountable anyone who steals from Oregon’s most vulnerable residents.”

Roberto Felipe Munoz / Munoz Counseling LLC – Charged
Munoz, who owns, manages and serves as registered agent for Munoz Counseling LLC, faces eighteen felony counts including Making a False Claim for Health Care Payment, Aggravated Theft, and Aggravated Identity Theft.

MFCU prosecutors allege that between March and August 15, 2025, Munoz and Munoz Counseling submitted fraudulent claims to CareOregon to collect payments they were not entitled to. CareOregon is a partner of Health Share of Oregon, one of sixteen Coordinated Care Organizations that contracts with the Oregon Health Authority to provide care to Medicaid recipients. CareOregon referred this matter to the MFCU for investigation and cooperated fully.

NOTE: These criminal charges are merely allegations of criminal conduct and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Attorney General Rayfield announced two additional recent convictions, one against a counselor who betrayed the trust of vulnerable children and their families, and another who treated Medicaid funds meant to keep people housed and healthy as her own personal piggy bank.

Zoe Thiele-Seidenberg – Convicted
Thiele-Seidenberg was employed as a licensed children’s mental health provider at Catholic Community Services (CCS). CCS serves youth ages 5–17, offering crisis stabilization, crisis and transition services, and community-based intensive treatment. CCS discovered fraud after conducting an internal audit and referred this matter to the MFCU. On February 24, 2026, Thiele-Seidenberg pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to two felony counts of Making False Claims for Health Care Payment. She was sentenced to five days in jail, 36 months of supervised probation, 80 hours of community service, restitution, and surrendered her therapy license.

Haley Sanchez – Convicted
Sanchez, a former CareOregon employee, handled requests for the Health Related Services Fund (HRSF) — funds that pay for items that are traditionally uncovered by standard Medicaid, such as housing support, home safety modifications, etc. Between December 2022 and December 2023, Sanchez used her access to improperly fund gift cards for herself, family members, and a partner.

CareOregon referred this matter to the MFCU for investigation after uncovering the fraud. On February 25, 2026, Sanchez pled guilty and was sentenced to two felony counts: Theft in the First Degree and Making a False Claim for Health Care Payment. Sanchez’s sentence included 10 days of jail, 100 hours of community service and 36 months of supervised probation.

ABOUT THE MFCU
The MFCU is responsible for investigating and prosecuting billing fraud committed by Medicaid providers and abuse/neglect committed by health care providers in connection with the provision of health care services. In the last 10 years, the MFCU has obtained over 200 criminal convictions, over 80 civil settlement agreements, and recovered over $85 million.

The MFCU receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $6,539,396 for October 2025 through September 2026. The remaining 25%, totaling $1,634,848, is funded by the State of Oregon.

REPORT FRAUD, ABUSE & NEGLECT

For Medicaid provider fraud, email Fraud.Referral@doj.state.or.us
For Abuse or Neglect, call the Oregon abuse reporting hotline: 1-855-503-SAFE (7233)
If you think someone is in danger of being hurt, call 911.

2 people arrested in vehicle theft, fraud case