Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, with the assistance of the Fort Pierce Police Department, arrested a St. Lucie County home health aide for Medicaid provider fraud. According to an MFCU investigation, Roselande Baptiste billed Medicaid for thousands of dollars’ worth of personal support services that Baptiste did not provide. MFCU received a complaint about Baptiste after the mother of a vulnerable adult could not secure respite care services. Upon further investigation, the mother learned that Baptiste continued to bill for services from April 1, 2020 until Dec. 6, 2020 even after the mother requested to stop the services due to COVID-19. The investigation revealed that Baptiste worked as an independent contractor for Medicaid provider Light of Life, Inc. to provide services designed to assist caregivers with the daily care of vulnerable adults. Instead, Baptiste created 247 false personal support invoices of more than $20,500 in services that Baptiste never provided. When confronted about the fraudulent billing by employees of Light of Life, witnesses say Baptiste admitted to submitting the fraudulent documents and not having the authority to do so. Light of Life self-reported Baptiste’s wrongdoings to MFCU.
