Metro East Personal Assistant Facing Health Care Fraud Charges

EAST SAINT LOUIS, Ill. – Shomanicka Holly, 36, of East Saint Louis, Illinois, was arraigned in 
federal court today after a grand jury returned an indictment charging her with three counts of 
felony health care fraud.

The indictment alleges that Holly served as a personal assistant from 2016 to 2019 for a qualified 
beneficiary enrolled in the Illinois Department of Human Services Home Services Program. The Home 
Services  Program  is  a  Medicaid  program  in  Illinois  that  provides  personal  assistants  to 
 Medicaid recipients to assist them with general household activities and personal care. It is 
designed to reduce Medicaid expenditures by avoiding more expensive institutional care, including 
nursing home care.

According  to  the  indictment,  Holly  submitted  false  timesheets  requesting  payment  for  
personal assistant services that she never actually performed because she was working at another 
job, not caring for  the  Medicaid  recipient.  In  doing  so,  Holly  allegedly  defrauded  the  
program  and  breached  its policies stating that personal assistants “cannot charge [the Home 
Services Program] for the same hours  worked  when  working  another  job”  and  “billing  for  
hours  not  worked  constitutes  Medicaid fraud.”

Holly’s case is set for trial on October 4, 2021, at 9:00am, before United States District Judge 
David W. Dugan in the federal courthouse in East St. Louis. If convicted, Holly faces a maximum penalty 
of 10 years in prison on each fraud count.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be 
innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

This case was investigated by agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of 
Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau (MFCB).
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Luke J. Weissler.