OTTAWA – A Junction City woman was ordered yesterday to repay more than $1,600 to the Kansas Medicaid program after being found guilty of Medicaid Fraud-related charges, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Ruby Irene Powell, 41, pleaded no contest in April to one felony count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program. Franklin County District Judge Douglas P. Witteman yesterday ordered the defendant to repay $1,607.27 to the Kansas Medicaid program. Judge Witteman also sentenced Powell to 12 months of probation with an underlying prison sentence of six months. Convictions such as this one may also result in a period during which the defendant is prohibited from being paid wages through a government health care program.
An investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division revealed that Powell had billed the Kansas Medicaid program as the personal care attendant for her mother to provide home-based care services. The defendant billed 460 hours for those home-based care services during periods while her mother was out of the home and in the hospital. The crimes occurred between January 2013 and December 2015.