TOPEKA, KAN. - A woman from Pretty Prairie, Kan., who fraudulently received payments from the Kansas Medicaid program to care for her sister with Downs Syndrome has pleaded guilty to federal health care fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.
Lupe Adela Mains, 46, Pretty Prairie, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of mail fraud. In her plea, she admitted that from Oct. 1, 2007, to March 31, 2009, she received Medicaid funds for providing supportive home care services to her sister even though she had ceased to provide those services. In fact, Mains’ sister was being cared for by another family member in Wichita during that time.
In addition, Mains admitted that she fraudulently continued to collect her sister’s Railroad Retirement Board survivor disability benefits. Mains failed to disclose to the Railroad Retirement Board that her sister was no longer in her care.
Sentencing is set for July 1. The parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of one month incarceration, 13 months community confinement and restitution of $50,242. Grissom commended the Medicaid Fraud And Abuse Division of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stefani Hepford and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway for their work on the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
