{"id":166448,"date":"2026-02-06T08:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166448\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T08:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:17:10","slug":"7-arrested-in-alleged-3m-california-hospice-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166448\/","title":{"rendered":"7 arrested in alleged $3M California hospice fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven people were nabbed in an alleged $3.2 million hospice fraud scheme as pressure ramps up on California officials to address waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want Californians to know that we are on it,\u201d said Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement. \u201cTo those committing fraud: we\u2019re watching, we\u2019re investigating, and we\u2019ll act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Felony charges were filed against seven alleged fraudsters associated with Compassionate Touch Hospice, Spiritual Touch Hospice and Fountain Hospice located in Monterey County. <\/p>\n<p>Seven people were nabbed in an alleged $3.2 million hospice fraud scheme as pressure ramps up on California officials to address waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. AP<\/p>\n<p>Bonta\u2019s office pushed back on the idea that fraud is rampant in California.  REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, nurses and medical professionals \u201crecruited, enrolled, and certified patients for hospice services who did not suffer from a terminal diagnosis\u201d and even shuffled patients between the bogus clinics in order to submit fake bills for hospice services \u2014 ultimately stealing $3.2 million from Medi-cal and Medicare. <\/p>\n<p>Nurse Nimfa Molina; medical directors Luis Artavia, Mark Samonte and Shomir Banerjee; and clinic owners Danny Lodevico, Flor Mora and Christine Nugiud-Yem each face felony fraud charges for their alleged roles in the billing scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n<p>California Post News: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCaliforniaPost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@CaliforniaPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@thecaliforniapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">WhatsApp<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a><br \/>California Post Sports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/capostsports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/capostsports\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CaliforniaPostSports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">X<\/a><br \/>California Post  <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Opinion<\/a> <br \/>California Post Newsletters: <a href=\"https:\/\/email.nypost.com\/#california-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sign up here!<\/a><br \/>California Post App: <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Download here!<\/a><br \/>Home delivery: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.californiapost.com\/defaultCAP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up here!<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><br \/><\/a>Page Six Hollywood: <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/hollywood-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sign up here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The attorney general\u2019s office acted upon a tip from the California Board of Registered Nursing and spent years investigating the \u201csophisticated conspiracy\u201d to defraud taxpayers, according to the statement. <\/p>\n<p>The arrests come as California faces scrutiny over claims of rampant fraud in the state. <\/p>\n<p>The arrests come as California faces scrutiny over claims of rampant fraud in the state. AP<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, described California as <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/30\/us-news\/dr-oz-vows-to-stop-predators-at-the-core-of-california-medical-fraud\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ground zero for health care fraud<\/a> in video posted to social media. <\/p>\n<p>The former TV doctor described a suspicious increase in hospice services over the past several years and visited a location in Van Nuys that he claimed was the site of a now-closed hospice facility that was suspended after credible allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen bad actors trick patients into fraudulent hospice care, they don\u2019t just drain taxpayer dollars; they strip people of the medical care that could have helped them live longer,\u201d Oz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s unconscionable, and we are going to drive these predators out of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bonta\u2019s office pushed back on the idea that fraud is rampant in California. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFighting fraud is part of our regular, ongoing work, and over time we have built real expertise in identifying abuse, holding bad actors accountable, and recovering taxpayer dollars To suggest otherwise is just wrong,\u201d Bonta said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven people were nabbed in an alleged $3.2 million hospice fraud scheme as pressure ramps up on California&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,65807,3130,15768,4182,13,3586],"class_list":["post-166448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-dr-oz","tag-fraud","tag-medicare","tag-metro","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}