AG Sunday Charges SE Pa. Pair with Padding Work Hours for Nearly $1.5M in Medicaid Reimbursements

Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against two southeastern Pennsylvania-based personal care attendants who defrauded Medicaid by submitting to the program nearly $1.5 million in reimbursements for work that was not performed.

Ashley Griffin, 27, and Yolanda Wright, 49, are each charged with felony Medicaid fraud, theft by deception, and conspiracy.

An investigation by the Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section revealed that, between 2020 and 2023, Griffin submitted more than 64,000 work hours for $1.2 million in reimbursements, knowing she did not complete the work reported.

On more than 1,000 occasions, Griffin submitted time entries exceeding 24 work hours for a single day. She reported 126 work hours on one particular day.

“This criminal conduct is much more than someone ‘working the system’ — the impact is deep and wide-ranging, as every dollar diverted deprives someone in need of care,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said. “Here, we uncovered a blatant and intentional misreporting of work hours, which defrauded the Medicaid program — and intended care recipients — of more than $1 million.”

Griffin was hired as a personal care attendant for agencies in Montgomery, Philadelphia, Delaware, and Bucks counties.

After Griffin was questioned about the alleged scheme in September 2023, reports in her name dropped drastically. However, investigators determined Griffin paid Wright to continue the false time entries in Wright’s name — totaling more than $275,000 in reimbursements.

The cases will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Susann Shore. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The Pennsylvania Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $13,491,632 for federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $4,497,207 for FY 2026, is funded by Pennsylvania.