Jacksonville Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, MFCU, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office today arrested a Duval County home health aide employee for falsifying time spent helping a disabled Medicaid recipient. According to the MFCU investigation, Diane Johnson did not provide any services to a disabled adult for five weeks, and instead sat in the car outside of the patient’s home. Unable to care and clean the house due to a disability, the patient’s home became a mess and Johnson refused to do the services required.
The attorney general said, “Not only did this home health aide employee rip off a taxpayer-funded program, but she also withheld services from a patient in need of care. My Medicaid Fraud Control Unit uncovered these crimes, and now the suspect, in this case, will have to answer for her decisions not to provide care.”
The investigation began when a social worker visited the house of the disabled adult and found Johnson sitting in the car outside. The social worker called Tamba Memoria, the owner of Tambolina Services Inc., the home and community-based service provider company that employed Johnson. Momorie drove to the home and found Johnson sitting in the car. After confronting Johnson, Momorie claimed that Johnson violently cursed and fled the scene and never returned—stealing the tablet the company provided.
Johnson faces one count of Medicaid fraud, a third-degree felony, and one count of grand theft, also a third-degree felony. If convicted, Johnson faces up to ten years in prison and more than $25,000 in fines. Attorney General Moody’s MFCU will prosecute this case with the State Attorney 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 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.
