Oregon Woman Sentenced to 13 Months for Fraud

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger said a 46-year-old woman described as the ringleader in a Medicaid fraud that netted nearly $100,000 will spend 13 months in prison.

Rania Hamad earlier pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to first-degree theft and making false claims for health care payments. Her husband, 45-year-old Zack Maysi and her mother, 72-year-old Nahla Awad, pleaded guilty to the same counts.

The three paid more than $93,000 in restitution at sentencing. The husband and mother got probation. An arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth person, Ahmad Hamad.

Kroger says the mother and the fourth defendant filed false disability claims so they could qualify for government assistance. The attorney general says Rania Hamad, with her husband’s help, applied for money through Oregon’s Medicaid home care program to care for her brother and mother.