A personal care aide allegedly billed Pennsylvania's Medicaid program for home services while her client was locked up at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown, federal prosecutors said as part of a 19-defendant fraud crackdown announced Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Two cases have Bucks County ties.
In the first, a federal indictment charges Joseph Pizzo, 47, and Tiziana Taormina, 52, with conspiracy and health care fraud. Prosecutors allege Taormina submitted fraudulent claims for home care she purportedly provided to Pizzo while he was incarcerated at the Doylestown facility and while he was working a construction job. The scheme netted at least $160,000 in Medicaid payouts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In the second, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday charged Ashley Griffin, 27, and Yolanda Wright, 49, with felony Medicaid fraud, theft by deception and conspiracy. Griffin worked as a personal care attendant for agencies in Montgomery, Philadelphia, Delaware and Bucks counties.
Between 2020 and 2023, Griffin allegedly submitted more than 64,000 work hours for $1.2 million in reimbursements she did not earn, according to the attorney general's office. On more than 1,000 occasions, she logged time entries exceeding 24 hours in a single day. One entry claimed 126 hours of work in one day.
After investigators questioned Griffin in September 2025, her reported hours dropped sharply. Prosecutors say she then paid Wright to continue submitting false entries in Wright's name, generating more than $275,000 in additional payouts. The combined alleged fraud totaled nearly $1.5 million.
"Every dollar stolen from these programs causes direct harm to someone who needs care and cannot afford it," Sunday said at an Aug. 4 press conference in Philadelphia.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf called the billing schemes outrageous, noting that some defendants billed for clients who were dead, in prison or trafficking drugs.
Pennsylvania's Medicaid home care spending has ballooned since the state launched its personal care services program in 2018. Annual billings grew from $120 million in 2019 to $8 billion in 2025, according to state data cited at the press conference. Officials acknowledged that Electronic Visit Verification, a federal tracking system implemented in 2020, has not been enough to stop fraud because a caregiver can simply tap a smartphone app without actually being present.
Pennsylvania led the nation in Medicaid fraud convictions last year, with 115 convictions and roughly $41 million recovered, Sunday said. The state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit operates on a $17.98 million budget for fiscal year 2026.
No arraignment or preliminary hearing dates have been announced for either Bucks County-tied case.
