LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A mother-daughter duo is behind bars after police said they ran an insurance fraud scheme for 8 - 10 months back in 2022.
Jessica Chechile and her mother, Heather Steverson, are both facing more than 200 charges combined.
In addition to several other charges, Chechile is facing 79 counts of forgery and 79 counts of uttering a forged document. Steverson is also facing several charges, including 33 forgery charges and 33 counts of uttering a forged document.
What started off as police looking into an account that was opened up at a Wells Fargo in Mt. Dora turned into an investigation into Medicaid fraud.
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“They set themselves up as drivers and the people who — the information who they stole their Medicaid, they used them as their riders,” said a Eustis police detective who asked to not be identified. “So they would be able to schedule four of them at a time and go all over from Orlando to Sarasota to Bradenton, go to different medical facilites and then charge Medicaid for those trips.”
The detective said this started after a man reported a Wells Fargo bank account was opened under his name with a false power of attorney, which police said turned out to be Heather Steverson.
Upon further investigation, police found a payment to the account from ModivCare, a transportation company that helps people find rides to appointments and get reimbursement for drivers.
“There was a payroll check from ModivCare that actually went into the account, and that’s how we were able to trace it back to where we eventually found the suspects,” the Eustis police detectives said.
Through its own investigation, ModivCare was able to come up with three accounts connected to Chechile and Steverson, with 12 victims attached to those accounts, police said.
“I had never heard of those doctors, so I had never been to those doctors,” Morgan Marks said.
Police said Marks was one of those victims. She said she was unable to use her benefits for 6 - 7 months because of the fraudulent activity.
“That completely screwed me over being able to go to my doctors because my StayWell had a hold on my account because of all of this activity that wasn’t coming from me,” Marks said.
Police also said Chechile was reportedly spending the money they collected on gambling.
“Whenever she got a lot of money, she’d go to the casinos and spend it all,” the Eustis Police Detective said. “She said she spent $16,000 in one day.”
Also in the affidavit, police said all payments made to Chechile should be considered fraudulent. In one instance, police said Chechile had four rides scheduled and billed while she was arrested by Eustis police on July 12 and released from the Lake County Jail on July 13.
Chechile is currently being held in the Lake County Jail on a $175,000 bond. Steverson is being held on a $274,000 bond.
News 6 reached out to ModivCare, which provided the following statement:
Modivcare takes every complaint seriously. We will take the necessary steps to investigate and resolve all complaints. We are cooperating with the appropriate agencies to determine a resolution.
Statement from ModivCare
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