Medicaid fraud case in Little Rock

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced a Little Rock health care provider has been arrested for felony Medicaid fraud following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Tequila Fitzgerald, 21, turned herself in to Pulaski County authorities this morning after the Attorney General’s Office had issued a warrant for her arrest. Bond was set at $2,000.

Fitzgerald is accused of allegedly billing the Arkansas Medicaid program for attendant-care services that she did not render. She is alleged to have falsely billed Medicaid for $17,340.48.

“My office will aggressively pursue investigations of medical providers believed to have stolen taxpayer money from the state's Medicaid program,” McDaniel said. “I encourage anyone who suspects instances of Medicaid fraud to contact the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in my office.”

Fitzgerald worked as a personal-care attendant for a Medicaid beneficiary in Pine Bluff. She was responsible for submitting her own claims for payment to the state’s Medicaid program.  The spouse of the Medicaid beneficiary told investigators that Fitzgerald stopped assisting the beneficiary in August 2012, and that Fitzgerald had moved to Little Rock earlier this year.

Investigators reviewed documents and determined that Fitzgerald had made false claims to the program from August 2012 to April of this year.

Charges are merely accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.