Andover MA Woman Pleads Guilty To Medicaid Fraud In New Hampshire

CONCORD, NH — A Medicaid fraudster from Massachusetts has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars by filing false claims and records in New Hampshire.

Dorabela Medeiros, 43, of Andover, MA, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of Medicaid Fraud-false claims and Medicaid Fraud-false records after submitting documents to two separate home healthcare companies claiming she rendered care to a member’s home when she did not between March and August 2022. The false claims amounted to a theft of $7,249.75. Records proved the claims were false because she was physically not at the member’s home when she said she was.

Two other charges — theft by deception-$1,501-plus and attempting to defraud unemployment, were nolle prossed as part of the plea deal.

Medeiros, Michael Garrity, the director of communications for the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, said she fully paid the restitution Thursday at the time of sentencing. She received a 12-month sentence with all but 45 days in the Merrimack County Jail suspended for five years so long as she remains in good behavior and complies with the terms of the sentence. Medeiros was also sentenced to one to two years in the New Hampshire State Prison for Women, suspended for five years. She was also required to perform 100 hours of community service and will not seek employment with vulnerable citizens.

The case was prosecuted by the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Healthcare providers include but are not limited to, hospitals, nursing homes, doctors, dentists, pharmacies, ambulance companies, and anyone else who is paid for providing healthcare services to Medicaid beneficiaries. Seventy-five percent of its funding comes from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services grant of about $1 million and another $330,000 from the state.

Anyone with information about provider fraud was asked to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at 603-271-1246.

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