DENVER — A Colorado woman has been sentenced to 10 years’ probation for defrauding the state’s Medicaid and unemployment insurance systems, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Monday.
Danielle Martinez, 32, was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service and must pay a total of $69,864 in restitution to the state. Martinez pleaded guilty to felony theft and Medicaid fraud in October.
Prosecutors said that from 2019 to 2023, Martinez was paid by Medicaid to provide home health care aid services to her mother. She reported to the state that she provided care between four and seven hours a day, seven days a week, according to a news release from the AG’s office.
From 2020 to 2021, at the same time Martinez was supposed to be providing care for her mother, she also filed for unemployment with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), prosecutors said.
Those unemployment claims were flagged and in conjunction with the Colorado Unemployment Fraud Task Force, a joint investigation into Martinez was started.
The investigation revealed that Martinez was not caring for her mother during times she claimed she was providing care, and cell phone data analysis showed that she was at her mother’s about twice a month, not seven days a week as she claimed, according to the news release. Additionally, while she was receiving payments from Medicaid, Martinez was also working and earning wages while receiving unemployment benefits.
“Medicaid and unemployment insurance are critical lifelines. Those who defraud these systems to make a quick buck are victimizing Coloradans who lean on these important programs,” Weiser said in a prepared statement. “This sentence is yet another example of how we are holding accountable those who defraud taxpayers.”
Coloradans who know of or suspect false Medicaid claims, unemployment insurance fraud, or any other fraud or scam, are encouraged to file a complaint with the attorney general at StopFraudColorado.gov.
