Just one Mainer is facing federal charges amid a new nationwide crackdown on Medicaid fraud announced on Tuesday, despite Vice President J.D. Vance’s anti-fraud visit to the state in May.
The suspect is accused of attempting to steal just $70, a pittance compared to the millions in MaineCare overbilling exposed by The Maine Wire.
[RELATED: Maine Conspicuously Absent From New White House Fraud Update and Press Conference…]
“These individuals participated in health care fraud schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche while announcing the prosecutions.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced prosecutions for 455 defendants in connection with health care fraud, including prosecutions across 45 states and territories.
Despite Maine’s massive fraud problems, exposed by The Maine Wire and highlighted by Vice President Vance during his anti-fraud event in the state, just one of those 455 defendants was living and operating in Maine.
That defendant, Jacqueline Yelverton, 40, of Brunswick, is facing charges of endangering the welfare of a dependent person and theft by unauthorized taking.
The criminal complaint alleges that, while working in Topsham, Yelverton recklessly endangered the safety of a dependent disabled person, though it strangely provides no details whatsoever about the specifics of how she allegedly endangered the dependent.
A press release from the DOJ also added that the dependent was a resident at a long-term care facility, but still did not specify how Yelverton allegedly endangered her welfare.
She was also accused of obtaining just $70 with the intent to steal it from its lawful owner, a relative of her dependent, though, as with the other charge, no details were included in the complaint.
Despite Vance’s visit, Maine has failed to see the types of fraud crackdowns carried out in states like Minnesota.
