Press Release

Anchorage Personal Care Attendants Convicted for Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Adult

May 23, 2013

May 22, 2013, 36 year old Sandy Marulanda of Anchorage was sentenced by the Anchorage District Court on a single count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable adult. Her husband, 37 year old Maurice Marulanda, also of Anchorage, was sentenced by the Anchorage District Court on March 13, 2013 on two counts, one count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable adult and a second count for medical assistance fraud.

The convictions resulted from the failure of Sandy and Maurice Marulanda to care for a Medicaid recipient that suffered from diabetes. Adult Protective Services employees with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services became aware that the Medicaid recipient was not receiving care after the recipient’s apartment manager called authorities due to the unsanitary conditions of the recipient’s apartment and his personal hygiene. Investigators from the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Law, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, learned that the Marulandas were billing Medicaid for providing home based health care services to the recipient, but in reality, were not actually providing the services they billed for. Instead of caring for the recipient, the Marulandas simply handed the recipient their timesheets through his apartment window for him to sign in order to verify that services were being provided. The Marulandas then submitted these timesheets to Medicaid for payment. The Medicaid recipient ultimately went to the hospital and suffered the loss of two toes due to his diabetes and poor physical condition.

Sandy Marulanda was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, 60 days of suspended jail, and 40 hours of community work service. Maurice Marulanda was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine, 180 days of suspended jail, and 180 hours of community work service. Both defendants were placed on probation for a period of five years, permanently barred from billing Medicaid and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,017.48.

The Alaska MFCU is part of the Attorney General’s Office. The MFCU is responsible for investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud and abuse, neglect or financial exploitations of patients in any facility that accepts Medicaid funds. The indictment and information adding misdemeanor counts for each of these cases can be found on the MFCU website.

CONTACT: Assistant Attorney General Andrew Peterson at 907-269-6292. For more information about the Marulanda cases or other cases handled by the Alaska MFCU, go to the MFCU website.

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.