The Attorney General’s Office announced that Kristen Connolly, 56, of Jeffersonville, Vermont, was sentenced in Vermont Superior Court, Lamoille Criminal Division, after pleading guilty to misdemeanor Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult, Driving Under the Influence, and Leaving the Scene of a Crash, and felony Medicaid Fraud. Ms. Connolly was an independent mental health and substance abuse counselor and Medicaid provider in St. Albans, Vermont. Ms. Connolly failed to keep the records required by law for therapy services she claimed to have provided to clients, and billed Medicaid for numerous sessions where she did not provide patients with services from 2019 to 2021. In addition to committing Medicaid Fraud, in May of 2022, Ms. Connolly struck a telephone pole while driving in Cambridge, Vermont. Ms. Connolly left the scene of the crash, and when officers stopped her a short time later, they observed her to be heavily intoxicated.
Approximately a year later, in April of 2023, Ms. Connolly was involved in another vehicle accident when she struck a telephone pole in Morristown, Vermont. When officers responded, they observed Ms. Connolly to be heavily intoxicated. Also in the vehicle was a non-verbal, vulnerable adult in Ms. Connolly’s care. Days later, Ms. Connolly billed Medicaid for care she claimed to have provided to the vulnerable adult on the morning of the accident and during her arrest for Driving Under the Influence.
