An Atchison nurses’ aide has been sentenced to serve 24 months in prison after being convicted of Medicaid fraud and related charges, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said. Janelle Lynn Sakakihara, 26, pleaded no contest and was found guilty in July of one count of Medicaid fraud and two counts of felony mistreatment of a dependent adult. Sakakihara was sentenced to serve 24 months in the Department of Corrections. Convictions such as this one may also result in a period during which the defendant is prohibited from being paid wages through a government healthcare program. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division and the Highland Police Department, which revealed that Sakakihara abused multiple residents at a Highland nursing facility where she was employed as a nurses’ aide. The crimes occurred in September 2017.
