Prosecutors say a Minneapolis home-care agency that was supposed to help vulnerable Minnesotans instead helped its owner pocket millions in taxpayer-funded Medicaid money.
Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd, 57, owner of Guardian Home Health Services in Minneapolis, has been charged after authorities say his agency billed Minnesota’s Medicaid program for services that were never actually provided. Between January 2020 and January 2024, more than $3 million was paid out for home-care and community support services, according to charging documents. Former employees told investigators they submitted bogus claims under Omarxeyd’s direction, while transfers from the agency allegedly flowed to him, his wife, and companies he controlled.
Charges and allegations
According to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, Omarxeyd faces eight counts of felony theft by false representation. Prosecutors say he used Guardian Home Health Services to bill for personal care assistant services, companion care, homemaking, respite, individualized home supports, and comprehensive community support services that were not provided at all or did not qualify for reimbursement.
The criminal complaint alleges the scheme stretched from January 2020 through January 2024 and involved tens of thousands of claims. "Defrauding programs that provide healthcare to low-income Minnesotans is a truly despicable act," Attorney General Keith Ellison said in announcing the charges.
Co-defendant and court dates
State filings also name a supervising nurse, Maryan Haji Garad, in a related case. She is accused of signing blank or incomplete care plans that prosecutors say enabled fraudulent billing, according to MN Crime. Investigators say Garad’s alleged conduct allowed roughly $539,000 in improper claims to be submitted.
Both defendants were charged by summons and are scheduled to appear in Hennepin County court on Feb. 3.
How investigators say the scheme worked
Prosecutors say Guardian routinely submitted claims for care that could not have been provided and pushed staff to bill as aggressively as possible, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office. One alleged example involved three hours of services billed every day for a client who was actually in the hospital for more than a month, as first reported by Bring Me The News.
Financial records and witness statements reviewed by investigators, prosecutors say, show Omarxeyd, his wife and related companies received more than $2 million from Guardian accounts during the period under investigation.
State response and oversight steps
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has identified several home- and community-based service types as "high-risk" and is preparing a six-month freeze on enrollment of new providers in 13 categories as part of tighter oversight efforts, according to the agency’s program-integrity guidance. Minnesota DHS has also expanded electronic visit verification (EVV) and other controls to better confirm when and where paid services are delivered. The agency's inspector general praised the criminal referral in a statement reported by local outlets.
CBS Minnesota noted that the DHS Office of Inspector General had referred Guardian to prosecutors after an administrative investigation and withheld payments while the probe was underway.
Legal consequences
Thefts by false representation tied to medical billing fall under Minnesota's general theft statute. When the value of stolen services exceeds $35,000, the offense can carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and significant fines, and prosecutors may aggregate multiple thefts for charging purposes. See Minn. Stat. §609.52 for the statute's sentencing structure. The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is prosecuting the case in state district court.
The case is the latest state-level move in a broader crackdown on Medicaid fraud. Prosecutors and state officials say efforts to root out billing abuses have resulted in hundreds of prosecutions and tens of millions of dollars recovered. CBS Minnesota and other local outlets have been tracking the Guardian case as it heads toward initial court appearances next month.
