AG Yost fulfills his promises, prosecutes people allegedly involved in the Medicaid fraud

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed indictments last week against eight Medicaid providers for allegedly abusing the system and stealing thousands of dollars, fulfilling a promise he made last year.

Yost accused the healthcare providers of stealing a combined $181,512 from the federal government health-care program, and a ninth provider faces charges for allegedly stealing a debit card from one of its clients, according to the press release.

“Whether fraud is a trickle or a flood, our mission remains the same: Protect Medicaid dollars and hold thieves accountable,” Yost said in a press release. “Our investigative team stands guard to ensure that every provider plays by the rules.”

Yost wrote in the press release that the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a part of Yost’s office, investigated the cases and secured the indictments in Franklin County.

The press release said that the unit, which operates within the Health Care Fraud Section, collaborates with federal, state, and local partners to investigate and prosecute health care providers who steal from Medicaid funds.

Yost’s office accused Molham Abdulhadi, 39, of West Chester, of submitting falsified timesheets and claiming he provided Medicaid services while one of his clients was out of the United States in 2023 and 2024, with Abdulhadi allegedly stealing $7,836.

Jazzmyne Battles, 29, of Cleveland, was also accused of billing Medicaid even though she did not provide the services, with her clients telling Yost’s office that Battles provided medical care only a couple of times, leaving all the work to unauthorized caregivers, who also sometimes would not arrive. Because of Battles, Medicaid allegedly lost $2,411 between November 2024 and February 2025.

Antonia Geiter, 32, of Mentor, also rarely visited one of her clients, according to investigators, which allegedly led to her stealing $63,941 from Medicaid funds.

Hannah Browning, 23, of Ashville, was caught by Yost’s office after a relative of one of her clients noticed and reported discrepancies in her timesheets. The investigators later found that Brownings allegedly stole $10,086 between August 2023 and January 2025.

The investigators allegedly found out that Aletta Cephus, 48, of Akron, falsified timesheets, thus allegedly stealing $6,530 from Medicaid. Cephus admitted to investigators that she billed for her services, even though she slept during shifts and left early to make it to her other shifts on time.

It was also allegedly discovered that Karen Hampston-McCants, 61, of Columbus, took a debit card from a disabled patient and gave it to her friend, who spent $400 on things not related to the patient. The investigators also accused Hampston-McCants of lying in an incident report, claiming she misplaced the card while shopping for the resident at Walmart.

Khaliah Larue, who used to work in Columbus, too, was allegedly billing Medicaid for services she had stopped providing. The deception resulted in $59,747 being stolen from the Medicaid funds.

Kisha Luke, 36, of Cleveland, also allegedly stole $2,143 from the Medicaid funds by claiming that she was providing in-home services, even though Luke’s client was in a hospital.

Investigators also allegedly found that Alice Toole, 60, of Reynoldsburg, stole $ 28,818 from Medicaid funds by falsifying timesheets, having unauthorized visits, and overlapping services for multiple clients.

The investigators were mostly concerned about Toole’s 15-year-old client, who died in August 2025 after she allegedly left the child unattended for several hours, which resulted in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office indicting her in March on charges of involuntary manslaughter, patient endangerment, and endangering children.

“Cheating Medicaid earns you nothing but a court date and a criminal record,” Yost said in a November release. “We’re working hard for Ohioans to recover ill-gotten gains and bring fraudsters to justice.

Last year, Yost also threatened people who are willing to commit Medicaid fraud, saying they would be punished for doing that.

“Would-be thieves ought to think twice before setting their sights on Medicaid dollars,” he said in a release at the time. “Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is always on the lookout for sticky-fingered criminals to bring to justice.”