Press Release  AG’s Office Secures Guilty Plea From Haverhill Defendant For Defrauding PCA Program

BOSTON — The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that Jasmin Bryan, 46, of Haverhill pleaded guilty and was sentenced for defrauding MassHealth’s personal care attendant (PCA) program. Bryan was sentenced to one year in a House of Correction and 18 months of probation to begin from and after incarceration.  

Bryan, a MassHealth consumer, and Victor Simard, her personal care attendant, were indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury in July 2024 after engaging in a scheme to submit false claims to MassHealth for more than $150,000 in PCA services that Simard never provided to Bryan. The AGO had alleged that, since September 12, 2019, Bryan submitted timesheets to MassHealth’s fiscal intermediary reflecting that Simard provided services to her during times when he was incarcerated. According to jail calls between Bryan and Simard, both individuals were aware of and financially benefitted from the submission of the timesheets. 

In addition to her jail sentence, Bryan was ordered to pay restitution to MassHealth, refrain from any responsibility with the MassHealth PCA program, and refrain from any and all work involving billing and bookkeeping. 

Simard pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court in June 2025 to one count of Medicaid False Claims and one count of Larceny over $1,200 by False Pretenses and was sentenced to one year in state prison.  

MassHealth’s PCA program helps individuals with chronic or long-term disabilities live independently in their community by providing medically necessary physical assistance with personal care needs. Through the PCA program, eligible MassHealth members employ PCAs to assist them with their activities of daily living. These services are paid for by MassHealth through a fiscal intermediary. Community based HHA and AFC programs also provide home health services to MassHealth members. 

This matter is representative of the AG’s Office’s commitment to combating fraud and abuse in the PCA program. In September 2025, the AGO secured a guilty plea and state prison sentence of up to 3 years from a defendant in Worcester who orchestrated a widespread MassHealth fraud scheme involving the stealing of personal information from disabled, elderly, and unhoused individuals to bill for false PCA and home health services. Also in September, another defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in jail for conspiring with multiple individuals to cause the submission of over $150,000 in false claims to MassHealth for PCA services that were never provided. 

This matter was handled by Managing Attorney Heidi Lyn Gosule and Investigator Emily Hunt, of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division. The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, MassHealth, and members of the Massachusetts State Police provided substantial assistance during the investigation. 

The AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division is a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, annually certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute health care providers who defraud the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth. The Medicaid Fraud Division also has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of residents in long-term care facilities and of Medicaid patients in any health care setting. Individuals may file a MassHealth fraud complaint or report cases of abuse or neglect of Medicaid patients or long-term care residents by visiting the AGO’s website. 

The Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $6,458,176 for federal fiscal year 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,152,724 for FY 2026, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

###