A Lubbock woman has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for a scheme involving fraudulent Medicaid payments intended for the care of her quadriplegic son, according to an announcement from United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.
Judy Terecia Sanchez, 60, received a sentence of 204 months on February 19, 2026. She had pleaded guilty in July of the previous year to one count of bank fraud. In addition to her prison term, United States District Judge James Wesley Hendrix ordered Sanchez to pay $227,377 in restitution to Texas Health and Human Services.
“The defendant inflicted unimaginable suffering on her son by fraudulently pretending he received the care he needed and deserved,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “Justice in the form of this lengthy prison sentence is deserved for the defendant’s callous exploitation of her son’s tragic condition for her own gain.”
Raymond Winter, Inspector General at Texas Health and Human Services (HHS), whose agency initiated the investigation, commented on the broader impact: “This sentencing was the culmination of a tremendous team effort, and I would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the Texas Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their hard work and dedication in seeing that justice was served. This case was about something much more troubling than fraud; it was about a severely disabled young man who was deprived of services paid for by taxpayers. Ms. Sanchez received more than $200,000 under false pretenses—monies intended to provide professional help for her own quadriplegic son to perform basic functions that most of us take for granted. Instead, her son went without for more than six years while she stole taxpayer dollars and lied about it. I hope today’s sentencing serves as a potent reminder that Texans will not tolerate this behavior and that the pursuit of justice will be relentless.”
Court documents reveal that Sanchez’s son suffered severe disabilities following an injury that left him bed-ridden, blind, non-verbal, immobile, and dependent on others through use of a tracheostomy tube. He qualified for home health care under Texas Medicaid. In 2015, Sanchez hired a certified nurse aide but did not replace her after she resigned two weeks later. For over six years afterward, Sanchez continued submitting falsified time sheets as if care were being provided by this aide and directed Medicaid checks payable to the aide be sent to a post office box she controlled; she then forged signatures and cashed those checks.
The fraud came to light when authorities found Sanchez’s son living in extreme neglect toward the end of his life after being left unattended by his mother. An EMS worker involved in his rescue described never having seen such conditions during nine years on duty. When handing down his sentence, Judge Hendrix noted that Sanchez's actions prevented qualified care from reaching her son and highlighted details including untreated bed sores with pus and maggot infestation.
The investigation was conducted by multiple agencies including the Office of the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation Dallas Field Office—Lubbock Resident Agency, and Texas Health and Human Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Howey prosecuted the case.
