A 37-year-old mental health agency operator from the North Chesterfield area is facing federal charges after prosecutors accused her of orchestrating a scheme that fraudulently billed Virginia Medicaid for crisis services that were never actually provided. Mikia Antoneice Noble, who ran Advancing Communities Everywhere, LLC in Richmond, was arrested in connection with the alleged scheme, with federal authorities placing the fraudulent billing total at over $49 million.
A Richmond Mental Health Agency Under Scrutiny
According to WRIC ABC 8News, Noble served as co-owner and chief operating officer of Advancing Communities Everywhere, which advertised itself as a mental health facility serving people experiencing acute or significant behavioral health crises. Noble also claimed to work as a mental health professional at the agency herself, the station reports. The U.S. Department of Justice described the case in a press release as a “$49 million mental health crisis services fraud scheme targeting Virginia Medicaid,” per the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs.
A separate account from WTVR put the figure at $49.6 million, reporting that ACE fraudulently billed Medicaid from 2022 through 2026. Of that amount, the station reports, Medicaid actually paid out $38.6 million. The discrepancy between the two figures has not been resolved in either account.
Clients Allegedly Never Got the Help They Were Billed For
Prosecutors allege that Noble and an unnamed co-conspirator specifically targeted low-income and homeless Virginians with purported community stabilization and mobile crisis services, according to the station's report. Those clients allegedly did not receive the services as billed and often did not need them in the first place, per the same account. Federal authorities say ACE provided no services of the advertised kind despite marketing itself as a crisis-response facility, according to the Justice Department.
Investigators also allege a billing scheme in which ACE charged Medicaid as though a full team of trained and licensed professionals had provided treatment, when in reality just one less-qualified mental health professional was involved — effectively doubling the payment on each claim, the report notes. The agency is also accused of falsifying medical records and lying to Medicaid managed care organizations during service audits, according to the Justice Department.
Charges and Potential Penalties
Noble faces four federal charges: one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud, according to WRIC. Those charges carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years, the outlet reports. Separately, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Mikia Antoneice Noble on October 20, charging her with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud.
Prosecutors allege Noble personally profited roughly $2 million from the scheme, according to WTVR's reporting. Noble's defense attorney told the station that the defense would only be responding to the allegations in court, declining to address the specifics publicly.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Virginia Mental Health Billing
The case against Noble joins a string of recent Medicaid fraud cases tied to Virginia mental health providers. In September, three people — E'mon Ambers, Armone' Ambers and Traquan Brown — were convicted on charges connected to an $11 million Medicaid fraud and kickback scheme run through a Henrico-based mental health agency, according to the FBI's Richmond Field Office. And earlier this month, Danville-based Negril Incorporated and its owners agreed to pay $1,817,910.60 to resolve allegations that the company billed Virginia Medicaid for mental health services delivered by an uncredentialed, unenrolled provider, according to Medical Daily. That settlement resolved civil claims only, with no admission of wrongdoing or determination of liability, the outlet noted.
The cases arrive as Virginia grapples with the future of its behavioral health crisis infrastructure. The state has floated plans to end Medicaid reimbursement for community stabilization services altogether and to cut mobile crisis response coverage from eight hours down to four, according to a report from EMS1. Whether those changes have ultimately taken effect remains unclear. For now, Noble's case moves forward in federal court, where her attorney says the full defense will be laid out.
