Authorities Say Florida Nurse Submitted Medicaid Claims for Incarcerated, Deceased Patients

A Florida woman was arrested earlier this week for alleged healthcare fraud.

Marisol Rodriguez, also known as Marisol Colon, 49, of Lehigh Acres, Florida, was arrested on Thursday on a federal criminal complaint charging her with healthcare fraud offenses.

Following her arrest, Rodriguez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford and was released on a $100,000 bond.

The Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CTMAP) is a Connecticut Department of Social Services-administered program that provides medical assistance to low-income persons. CTMAP’s benefit packages, referred to as “HUSKY” or “Connecticut Medicaid,” are jointly funded by the State of Connecticut and the federal government.

The complaint alleges that Rodriguez, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) who formerly resided in Newington, Connecticut, defrauded the Connecticut Medicaid Program by submitting fraudulent claims for what appear to be medication-management services that were, in fact, not provided to Medicaid patients. As an APRN, Rodriguez was licensed to prescribe controlled substances to Medicaid recipients, and she billed Medicaid for medication management services to these patients. Rodriguez repeatedly billed Medicaid for services not rendered, including for services purportedly rendered to patients, sometimes for months or years after the patients stopped seeing her; while working full-time at a different employer; while she collected unemployment benefits after being terminated by that employer; and for services purportedly rendered to patients who were hospitalized, incarcerated, or deceased.

It is alleged that between approximately January 2022 and August 2025, more than 15,000 Medicaid claims totaling more than $1.35 million were paid to Rodriguez. An analysis conducted by the Connecticut Department of Social Services revealed that Rodriguez’s Medicaid billings during that time ranked her first among a peer group of 116 APRNs, and that she made approximately 5,000 more claims and was paid approximately $500,000 more than the second-highest billing APRN.

It is further alleged that, for actual patients, Rodriguez frequently did not adequately review a patient’s medical history prior to prescribing controlled substances and did not consider or address how the prescriptions were necessary or safe when combined with the patient’s other prescriptions.

The complaint charges Rodriguez with healthcare fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, and making false statements relating to healthcare matters, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Social Services. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance, to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.

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