Feds arrest 6 alleged fraudsters in Maine health care scandal

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday busted a Maine home health care agency that reportedly billed nearly $48 million from MaineCare. A federal grand jury indicted South Portland’s Community Home Health Care LLC, owner Noora Abd, and five people who worked there. Authorities allege that at least $600,000 in billing was fraudulent, and all six involved individuals were arrested.'If, as alleged in the indictment returned last week, you steal from our health care system for your own financial gain, you too, will be shut down and brought to justice.'Prosecutors allege that the defendants submitted fake Electronic Visit Verifications for a MaineCare member, listed as "Client 1." MaineCare paid Community Home Health more than $600,000 for that client's care since 2020, according to the indictment. MaineCare later reversed about $35,000 of those payments, the indictment says.Agents seized $116,854 in cash in Biddeford on or about June 23, most of it from a bedroom safe that also held jewelry, according to the indictment. Agents also confiscated $53,768.85 in Augusta. Community seems to have billed more from MaineCare than any other home health care company in Maine. The company, established in 2016, received $47,986,855 from MaineCare from 2019 through 2025, according to the Maine Wire. The state suspended its billing on June 30, according to the Maine Wire. RELATED: Fraud, fraud, and more fraud: How Maine became a Somali scammer's paradise Blaze News The Maine Wire visited Community’s office, located above a South Portland gym, in April. Staff insisted the business was legitimate.Prosecutors allege the fraud was perpetrated in a straightforward manner. Mohammed Alkhalaf, a personal support specialist at Community, logged in to the Electronic Visit Verifications system with the usernames and passwords of co-defendants Adel Al Rashid, Sura Almohammed, and Ethar Alyaseen, plus an uncharged "Person 1," according to the indictment. The defendants shared their Electronic Visit Verifications access with one another so that false visits could be recorded under their names, prosecutors allege. Abd and Faysal Kalayaf Manahe learned that federal agents were investigating the company on or about June 23, according to the indictment. Prosecutors allege the pair subsequently urged a witness, "Person 2," to refrain from communicating with law enforcement. The duo also instructed Person 2 to give investigators misleading or inaccurate information if law enforcement officers questioned Person 2, according to prosecutors.When questioned at his home in Augusta, Alkhalaf allegedly told an FBI agent that he had never filed care hours for anyone but himself.All six individuals and the company itself are charged with health care fraud conspiracy, which carries up to 10 years in prison. Abd and Manahe also face an obstruction count, and Alkhalaf faces a false-statements count, according to the court docket.Manahe is no stranger to federal court.He runs Decent Health Care in Augusta, which billed MaineCare $4,848,112 in 2025. The state suspended its billing on June 30 after uncovering credible evidence that it charged for services that were never actually provided, according to an August report from the Maine Wire. The outlet identified Manahe as an Iraqi immigrant.The Justice Department charged Manahe and three other home-care managers with conspiring to fix the wages of personal support workers in 2022, though a jury acquitted all four in 2023.The case is part of the Trump administration's Homeland Security Task Force, created under an executive order titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion." The FBI, HHS-OIG, HSI, and IRS-CI investigated alongside Maine's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit."Health care fraud — in all its forms — costs all of us, and today's arrests should make it clear that if, as alleged in the indictment returned last week, you steal from our health care system for your own financial gain, you too will be shut down and brought to justice,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Benson said.Stephen Smith, an attorney for Alkhalaf, declined to comment.Attorneys for Abd, Community Home Health Care, Al Rashid, Almohammed, and Alyaseen did not immediately respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!