Press Release  Randolph Personal Care Attendant Sentenced To 18 Months In Jail For Defrauding MassHealth

BOSTON — The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that Kyisha Vargas Aaron, 45, of Randolph, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scheme to defraud MassHealth’s Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program. According to the AGO, Vargas, acting as a PCA, conspired with multiple individuals to cause the submission of over $150,000 in false claims to MassHealth for PCA services that were never provided.

On September 5, 2025, Vargas pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Superior Court to charges brought by the AGO in relation to the scheme, including Medicaid False Claims, Larceny over $1,200, Identity Fraud, Credit Card Fraud, and Conspiracy. As a result of the plea, Vargas was sentenced to 18 months in the House of Correction and ordered to pay $153,454.80 in restitution to the Commonwealth. Additionally, Vargas is barred from contacting her co-conspirators, engaging in fiduciary roles, and working in healthcare. The plea follows two separate sets of charges brought by the AGO in October 2020 and January 2025.

In October 2020, Vargas and a co-conspirator were indicted on charges alleging that between April 2016 and August 2020, Vargas fraudulently used another individual’s personal identifying information to bill MassHealth for PCA services that were never provided, including during a period of time when Vargas was incarcerated.

In January 2025, the AGO secured additional charges against Vargas and a second co-conspirator, alleging that, while incarcerated between January 2019 and February 2021, Vargas instructed multiple co-conspirators to fraudulently use Vargas’s son’s name to submit timesheets for PCA services that were never provided. Moreover, the AGO alleged that during the same time period, Vargas submitted PCA timesheets in her own name for services that were not provided, including while she was incarcerated, in the hospital, or working elsewhere. Additionally, the AGO alleged that Vargas stole the personal information of two other individuals and opened various accounts and accumulated debt under their names.

MassHealth’s Personal Care Attendant (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. In June 2025, as a result of charges brought by the AGO, a personal care attendant pleaded guilty to defrauding the PCA program while incarcerated and was sentenced to one year in state prison and ordered to pay restitution. Additionally, in June 2025, following indictments 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 Attorneys General Heidi Lyn Gosule and Rosie Loring, Senior Healthcare Fraud Investigator Christine Barker, and Investigator Rachel Wiesler, all of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division, along with Victim Witness Advocate Edith Ayuso of the AGO’s Victim Services Division. Agents from the Office of the Inspector General, Health and Human Services, Bureau of Special Investigations, and MassHealth provided substantial assistance with the investigation. Tempus Unlimited, Inc. also provided assistance with 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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