Press Release  Personal Care Attendant Pleads Guilty To Defrauding MassHealth While Incarcerated

BOSTON — The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that Victor Simard, who has been incarcerated for armed robbery and rape since 2019, has pleaded guilty to defrauding MassHealth’s personal care attendant (PCA) program. Simard was sentenced to one year in state prison and three years of probation to begin after his current incarceration.

According to the AGO, Simard, while incarcerated, conspired with a MassHealth consumer, Jasmin Bryan, to submit false claims to MassHealth for PCA services that he never provided to Bryan. In July 2024, as a result of charges brought by the AGO, Bryan and Simard were indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury in relation to the scheme.

The AGO alleged that, since September 12, 2019, Bryan submitted timesheets to MassHealth’s fiscal intermediary reflecting that Simard had been providing 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 false timesheets. The AGO alleges that MassHealth has paid Bryan and Simard more than $157,000 for PCA services that were never provided.

On June 25, 2025, Simard pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court to these charges, including one count of Medicaid False Claims and one count of Larceny over $1,200 by False Pretenses. In addition to his state prison sentence, Simard was ordered to pay restitution and refrain from any work related to the PCA program or any work or with elderly and disabled individuals.

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 AGO’s commitment to combatting MassHealth fraud, including fraud of MassHealth’s PCA program. Last week, the AGO announced that as a result of charges brought by the AGO, a former South Deerfield resident pleaded guilty to defrauding the PCA program and was sentenced to two years in the House of Correction, suspended for two years. In March 2024, the AGO secured indictments against four individuals involved in submitting $500,000 in false claims to MassHealth for PCA and other services that were not provided.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Heidi 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 and MassHealth 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 $5,922,320 for federal fiscal year 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,974,102 for FY 2025, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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