And the verdict is...

guilty on all 9 counts. The charges? Two counts of theft and 7 counts of false statement on a Medicaid claim.

As I mentioned in my previous entry I was an alternate juror which means I heard/saw the whole case presented but did not participate in the deliberations.

The story of this case begins in 1999. There was an 18-year-old girl (P) who up to this point had had a pretty rough childhood. Her parents were dead. We don’t get to know the details of that chlidhood or her parents’ demise, but we know that she grew up in St. Louis and was sent out to Seattle to stay with one of her many aunties (Aunt A) and her husband (her uncle). This young girl had some mental problems and the family at this time did not know exactly the nature of those problems.

The arrangement to stay with her Aunt A did not work out and the uncle called another of P’s aunts in Seattle (Aunt B) to say that he was putting P on a bus back to St. Louis. Aunt B told him No, do not put P on that bus – she will get lost on the way back to St. Louis! She was afraid for her niece that she would not be able to find the right bus to get on for transfers and could get lost along the way. Aunt B took in P and began to take care of her.

Within the first year Aunt B realized that P had some mental issues that she did not understand and so she took P to a doctor. It was discovered that P had a developmental disability. She had Downs Syndrome. Auntie B applied for some assistance to take care of P. She got SSI (Social Security) payments for P. Even though P was an adult, Aunt B applied to be and was named representative payee for P. That meant the checks for P would come in Aunt B’s name and she was to use those checks on things for her niece’s benefit.

Aunt B also applied to a special Medicaid Personal Care program as a paid caregiver to P. Aunt B was allotted a certain number of hours per month she could be paid for services rendered for P. This included things like personal hygiene, shopping, cooking, laundry, etc.

After a few years P decided she wanted to be more independent and she felt she could make it on her own. She no longer wanted to live at home with Aunt B. She got a part-time job at Safeway. She started staying at friends’ homes more and more. Eventually she totally moved out of Aunt B’s home and was exclusively living with friends.

You might guess what happened. Aunt B continued to collect both the Social Security and Medicaid checks. P wanted to get her own apartment and live completely independently but she needed more money than she made at Safeway. She started asking for her SSI checks and was told that the checks had been returned. But some checking with the Social Securty Administration showed that the checks had not been returned and had indeed been cashed.

There was a period of 7-9 months when Aunt B continued to claim money from Medicaid for caring for P and she continued to cash the SSI checks. It’s easy to see how this happened. Aunt B was probably desperate for money, and this money was already coming in. But that doesn’t make it right or legal. Sometimes good people do bad things.

The two counts of theft were for the money taken from Medicaid (the state) and Social Security (federal government). The 7 counts of misstatements were for each month that Aunt B. placed a call to an automated voice mail system claiming she cared for P at the full allowed amount when P was no longer residing with her.

It was clear that P did not want to testify against her Aunt B – she loves her very much. She was rather emotional and teary at times. But she got on the stand and she told the truth.

P is now living independently. She was awarded assistance with housing and backpay for her SSI quickly after they figured out what was going on. The last question P was asked when she testified was how she likes living independently. Her answer was a huge smile and the words “I LOVE it!”

I am told that sentencing will be done by the judge in a few weeks. Hopefully this will bring closure to this family who had become divided over this matter.