Attorney General Moody Announces Arrests of a Nurse and the Mother of a Medicaid Recipient for Ripping Off Medicaid Program
Attorney General Moody Announces Arrests of a Nurse and the Mother of a Medicaid Recipient for Ripping Off Medicaid Program
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today announced the arrests of a nurse and the mother of a Medicaid recipient for bilking more than $100,000 from Medicaid. Throughout several months, Myoka Bowens, a licensed practical nurse, worked with a Medicaid recipient’s mother, Jazmin Raulerson, to swindle the Medicaid program by falsifying progress notes for time overseeing a high-risk infant.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Not only did these women scheme to rip off Florida taxpayers, but they also exploited an infant’s illness in the process. I am proud of the work of my Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to uncover their plot to steal more than $100,000 from this taxpayer-funded program and bring these suspects to justice.”
According to the investigation, Bowens provided private duty nursing services to a high-risk infant. Bowens’s employers required daily progress notes to be submitted. Over the course of several months, Bowens submitted falsified skilled progress notes for reimbursement, causing a loss to the Medicaid program for more than $100,000. Meanwhile, Raulerson participated in the fraud by signing and approving the progress notes, as well as clocking in and out for Bowens. Raulerson received several thousands of dollars from Bowens for taking part in the scheme.
Bowens’s employing company, Sonas, hired a private investigation company that obtained photographic evidence proving Bowens’s absence during the scheduled and billed hours. After gathering the evidence, Sonas terminated Bowens and offered Raulerson another LPN, but Raulerson refused and instead willfully continued the scheme by hiring Bowens under another Medicaid provider company.
Bowens and Raulerson each face one count of Medicaid provider fraud for more than $50,000, a first-degree felony, one count of second-degree grand theft and one count of money laundering, a third-degree felony. Attorney General Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will prosecute this case through an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
The Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes providers that intentionally defraud the state’s Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida’s taxpayers. From January 2019 to the present, Attorney General Moody’s MFCU has obtained more than $112 million in settlements and judgments.
The Florida MFCU is funded through a grant totaling $27,734,297 for Federal Fiscal Year 2022, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The Federal Share of these funds is 75% totaling $20,800,724. The State Matching Share of these funds is 25% totaling $6,933,573 and is funded by Florida.
