EUSTIS, Fla. — Eustis police said a mother and daughter pair got away with around $130,000 from the federal government by making false Medicaid claims for work they didn’t do.
According to police, Jessica Chechile and her mother, Heather Steverson, claimed they were giving rides to people for medical visits. But investigators believe they were using stolen identities to create fake patients and weren’t actually giving anyone a ride.
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Chechile and Steverson are now both facing dozens of charges.
Police believe the daughter and mother submitted paperwork claiming they provided trips to and from medical facilities for around a dozen people over a 10-month period but that the patients they were supposedly driving around were victims of identity theft and no one was getting rides.
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“They’re doing it fraudulently… they aren’t transporting anybody … and that’s where we have the issue,” said Capt. Kenneth Toler with the Eustis Police Department.
Investigators said Chechile also opened up a Wells Fargo bank account as the power of attorney over another identity theft victim, and billed for fake rides for under that person’s name as well.
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Investigators believe in all, Chechile claimed she provided around 1,700 trips and made $51,000 and Steverson claimed she provided 2,000 trips and made $79,000.
Police said most of the victims they reached out to didn’t know their identities had been stolen.
The two women remain in custody in the Lake County Jail.
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