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AG’s Medicaid fraud unit recoups $42,000 in restitution

TOPEKA – (July 31, 2023) – The Kansas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Unit (MFCU) recently prosecuted six Medicaid fraud cases recouping more than $42,600 in restitution from fraudsters, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced today.

“Our top priority is the protection of crime against one of the most vulnerable groups of our population – the elderly and disabled. These prosecutions should put Medicaid fraudsters on alert. If you hurt Kansas’s most vulnerable, we will prosecute,” said Jackie Williams, First Assistant Attorney General for Kobach’s office.

The AG’s MFCU unit is dedicated to ensuring that Kansas citizens receive the services Medicaid is allocated to provide. The unit investigates and prosecutes Medicaid fraud cases statewide to stamp out corruption and abuse of Medicaid dollars and services.

The unit’s recent cases include the prosecutions of:

• Michelle Kisha Taylor of Shawnee. She pled guilty to making a false claim, statement or representation to the Medicaid Program and unlawful acts concerning computers and was sentenced to 24 months in jail, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. She was ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution to the Kansas Medicaid program for Medicaid fraud. While working another job, Taylor was working as a personal care attendant for her mother, a Medicaid beneficiary. Taylor submitted fraudulent claims for payment to the Medicaid program as if she was providing personal care services to her mother, when in reality, she was working another job or her mother was in the hospital. Taylor’s prosecution was part an “Operation Keeping Them Honest,” a cooperative effort between the attorney general’s office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Inspector General to investigate fraudulent billing to Medicaid for personal care services provided in Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes. Senior Assistant Attorney General Eve Kemple of Kobach’s office prosecuted the case. She was assisted by analyst Dalton May.
• Marquita Francine Standard of Lansing. Standard pled guilty to one count of making a false claim, statement or representation to the Medicaid Program. Standard, a personal care attendant, submitted false claims for payment from Medicaid as if she was providing care to several beneficiaries residing in different locations, all at the same time. Standard was sentenced to six months in the Kansas Department of Corrections, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. She was ordered to pay $4,093 in restitution. Her case was also part of the “Operation Keeping Them Honest” program. Kemple prosecuted the case with assistance from analyst Sharon Balmain.
• Myshia Robertson, 49. Robertson pled guilty to making a false claim to the Medicaid program. She submitted a fraudulent claim to Medicaid for personal care services she did not provide. She was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. She was ordered to pay $18,200 in restitution – the amount Medicaid lost from her false claims. Assistant Attorney General Debbie Moody of Kobach’s office prosecuted the case with assistance from special agent Natasha Ward, analyst Kim Epps, and nurse investigator Kimberly Smith.
• Courtland Edward Allen, 35 of Leavenworth. Allen pled guilty to making a false claim, statement, or representation to the Medicaid program and unlawful acts concerning computers. Allen claimed to be working as a personal care attendant for his brother, a Medicaid beneficiary, when Allen was actually working another job and times when his brother was in school. Allen was sentenced to 24 months in jail, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. He was ordered to pay $3,687 in restitution. Kemple of Kobach’s office prosecuted the case with assistance from special agent Ward and analyst Epps.
• Kevin Matney, 51 of Garnett. In a civil action, Matney was charged with making false claims. He agreed to pay $4,202 in restitution as part of a settlement agreement. Kemple litigated the case. Special Agent Julie Hart, analyst Kimberly Clearwater, and nurse investigator Smith assisted with the case.
• Kierra Drinnen, 37 of Sedgwick County. Drinnen confessed to fraud. Drinnen worked as a clinical coordinator nurse in Wichita. While on duty, she stole medication that was paid for by Medicaid for a Medicaid patient. She agreed to a plea deal for that included a sentence of 12 months of jail time, suspended, and 12 months supervised probation. She agreed to continue in substance abuse treatment. Drinnen must pay all court costs in addition to standard conditions of probation. Moody of Kobach’s office handled the case. She was assisted by investigators Kevin Kasl and Smith of the attorney general’s office.

To report suspected cases of Medicaid fraud or abuse, please call 1-866-551-6328 or (785) 368-6220 or click here to use our online reporting form.

CONTACT: Danedri Herbert – (913) 706-6394 [email protected]