Felony Justice
Former public defender faces sentencing for healthcare fraud
A former public defender from Iowa who had beforehand been arrested for shoplifting can be sentenced in September for defrauding Medicaid and most cancers sufferers. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A former public defender from Iowa who had beforehand been arrested for shoplifting can be sentenced in September for defrauding Medicaid and most cancers sufferers.
Legal professional Cassi Wigington may withstand 10 years in jail and has agreed to forfeit $445,455 in proceeds for her half in a scheme to overbill Medicaid for merchandise that most cancers sufferers by no means acquired.
Wigington was first licensed to follow legislation in Iowa in January 2020. Final yr, she admitted in court docket filings that in August and September 2023, she shoplifted repeatedly from a Hy-Vee retailer in Gretna, Nebraska, stealing greater than 300 objects price $2,721, in line with a story by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Wigington entered right into a diversion settlement by which she agreed to pay restitution, and the theft cost was dismissed. The Iowa Supreme Courtroom determined in June 2025 to droop her license for six months and reinstated her in December 2025 after a number of native judges and a member of the Iowa legislature wrote letters on her behalf.
Six months after her license was reinstated, a federal grand jury in Nebraska charged Wigington with one depend of healthcare fraud. That very same day, Wigington entered a responsible plea, in line with the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Her sentencing is slated for Sept. 10 in federal court docket in Nebraska.
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