Medicaid Fraudsters Allegedly Stole $11 Million From Taxpayers
Indiana Attorney general todd Rokita announced charges against six individuals accused of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program by over $11 million. The fraud involved billing for services that were never provided, primarily through the Senior Home Care Agency, which offers Medicaid waiver services like Attendant Care and Transportation. The largest offenders, Alexander D. byrnes and Faith A. Casas, allegedly stole nearly $11 million. Byrnes, who previously pleaded guilty to theft and fraud, used the stolen funds to spend on luxury items, including nightclubs, designer goods, and a Rolex watch. Other accused individuals, including Nichole A. Hoyt, Jessica K. Schoof, cortez L.Crook, and LaShawn N. Wright, also face charges for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The examination was conducted by the Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, mainly funded federally, as part of a broader crackdown on healthcare fraud under the Trump management’s initiatives. This effort aligns with national efforts to combat Medicaid fraud, which has included federal operations resulting in charges against hundreds of defendants for schemes costing billions of dollars and targeting international fraud schemes.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced Wednesday that six people who allegedly defrauded the state’s Medicaid program of over $11 million are facing felony charges, continuing the nationwide crackdown on fraudsters stealing taxpayer dollars.
The six fraudsters accumulated the money by billing for services never provided, a press release reported, and were connected to Senior Home Care Agency, which provides waiver services for Indiana Medicaid, including “Attendant Care, Home and Community Assistance, and Transportation services.”
“Committing fraud and stealing from taxpayers is bad enough, but it is especially egregious when it’s committed against our most vulnerable citizens,” Attorney General Rokita said in the press statement. “Our office is committed to holding these bad actors accountable, and we’re not going to tolerate it in Indiana.”
The press release estimates the alleged fraudsters may have cost Indiana residents $11.2 million. The costliest accused couple, Alexander D. Byrnes and Faith A. Casas, potentially stole $10.9 million. They are both facing 14 counts of Level 4 Felony Fraud, 35 counts of Level 5 Felony Fraud, and 1 count of Level 6 Felony Fraud, the press release revealed.
Byrnes could face a higher sentence because of his past criminal record. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to “felony counts of forgery, theft, and fraud,” Indiana’s Fox 59 reported. Byrnes’ court records indicate that he faced six years in prison for stealing over $50,000. Then the judge in his case, Grant W. Hawkins, suspended all but two days of his sentence under a plea that required him to pay $161,433 in restitution and serve over 800 hours of community service. After Byrnes finished paying off his restitution in 2025, Hawkins vacated the original felony convictions, and Byrnes instead pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor theft counts.
Fox 59 reported that as owner of the Senior Home Care Agency, Byrnes “approved fake caregiver hours into the company’s reporting system for any unused client hours.” By billing the elderly and sick for non-existent work, Byrnes accumulated enough cash to spend $330,000 on nightclubs, $28,000 on DoorDash, over $540,000 on Novo Custom Home Design, and $42,000 on a Rolex watch, according to court documents.
“It is important to remember that these people are stealing from taxpayers — from you,” Rokita stated in the press release.
Purported criminals Nichole A. Hoyt and Jessica K. Schoof together stole almost $224,000, and Cortez L. Crook and LaShawn N. Wright allegedly stole over $75,000.
The Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that investigated the fraud is mainly funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a federal grant. Only 25 percent of the task force is funded by the State of Indiana, according to the press release.
Under direction and funding from the Trump administration, Attorney General Rokita was able to follow Vice President JD Vance’s directive to “aggressively” go after fraud. In May, Vance announced that “his anti-fraud task force is going to force states to prove that they actually prosecute fraud, threatening to strip billions from state legal coffers if they do not comply,” the Federalist reported.
Vance’s crackdown on Medicaid fraud came months after an Office of Inspector General report revealed that Medicaid dished out $400 million to deceased people in a single year. A report from last year revealed that five states and Washington, D.C. gave illegal immigrants over a billion dollars of taxpayer money.
A different way the Trump administration is combating the ongoing Medicaid misuse is through the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which has found health care fraud cases in 45 states thus far. The Justice Department has brought charges against 455 defendants that cost the American people over $6.5 billion from health care and opioid schemes. The takedown also captured foreign fraudsters from Kyrenia —a city in Cyprus — Estonia, and the Philippines who stole a combined total of $15.5 billion through healthcare and telemedicine schemes. Fifty state Medicaid Fraud Control Units participated in helping the Trump administration take down fraudsters.
“As today’s cases and arrests show, there is no case too big, no scheme too complex, and no hiding place too remote for our relentless fraud-fighting team. Our message is simple: if you put profit over patients, you should expect to be put in prison,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division in a DOJ press release.
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