Brookfield Dentist Charged With Defrauding Medicaid

BROOKFIELD, IL – A dentist who lives in Brookfield and her employee are accused of defrauding Medicaid of more than $100,000.

Blanca Murillo, 51, has a dental office on Archer Avenue in Chicago's Archer Heights community.

Murillo and her assistant, Jose Luis Carrillo Ibarra, 47, of Berwyn, face multiple felony charges, the attorney general's office said in a statement Wednesday.

From 2018 to 2024, Murillo received payment for more than $100,000 in claims for dental services she did not provide, authorities said.

Murillo is alleged to have known that Ibarra was unlicensed, yet she still paid him to provide dentistry services at her office and billed the state for the work, the attorney general said.

During the claims for service, Murillo also owned Brite Smile in Chicago's West Town neighborhood.

The duo was charged with two counts of theft of government property, two counts of theft, one count of vendor fraud and one count of conspiracy, all felonies, authorities said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general's office helped with the investigation.

"Medicaid exists to deliver essential care to the individuals who rely on it, and fraud of this kind ultimately harms patients who trust their providers to act in their best interests," Thomas Ethridge, special agent in charge of the inspector general's office, said in the statement.

Patch left a message at Murillo's Archer Heights office on Wednesday.