A New Mexico woman has pleaded guilty to working with a non-emergency medical transport company to bilk Medicaid of nearly $4 million and now faces up to10 years in prison.

The plea by Dorothea Irving of Farmington, New Mexico, was announced Monday by the Justice Department. 

Irving, 47, worked from 2020 to 2026 as a driver for the company and submitted false claims to New Mexico Medicaid for nonexistent trips to medical appointments.

The company, NEMT, then used these trip records to submit millions of dollars to the state's Medicaid. NEMT submitted about $3.96 million in fraudulent claims and received about $4.1 million, according to the DOJ, which said cther company drivers and employees also were involved in the scheme. 

Irving individually received roughly $980,901 from the company.

Irving and the company claimed they drove Medicaid recipients to medical appointments, as the New Mexico program covers transportation costs for Medicaid recipients who can’t access a personal vehicle or public transportation.

Along with the company, its owner, and other employees and drivers, Irving claimed in records that she or her children were actually the Medicaid beneficiaries who didn’t have transportation and that they went on trips that didn't happen.

Additionally, Irving and other drivers signed trip forms falsely claiming to have driven each other to appointments to disguise that they were driving themselves. In many cases, the fake trips involved Irving, another driver or minor children allegedly traveling long distances to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings across New Mexico.

Irving pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and will be sentenced by a federal district court judge. A sentencing date has not yet been confirmed.

The FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigations and the New Mexico Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau are investigating the case.

So far, the DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged more than 6,200 defendants who altogether billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.