The following press release was submitted by the Office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that three individuals have pleaded guilty to defrauding the Maryland Medicaid program of over $3.6 million through behavioral health companies in Baltimore, Maryland.
On February 25, 2025, Tasha S. Saunders, 44, of Parkville, Maryland pleaded guilty to two counts of defrauding the Maryland Medicaid program of more than $3.6 million by billing for mental health services that were never provided.
Robert Higgins later pleaded guilty to two counts of Medicaid fraud related to his role in operating the two behavioral health companies with Saunders and agreed to pay back $341,900.
Tamyra Jordan, 24, Saunders’ daughter pleaded guilty to defrauding the Medicaid program of $298,000. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides healthcare benefits to low-income individuals.
From November 2019 through September 2024, and January 2022 through September 2024, Saunders, Jordan, and Higgins operated Guiding Lives, Inc. and Another Chance Supportive Services, Inc. (ACSS), both located at 6305 Belair Road, Baltimore, and falsely billed for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP) services. PRP is administered by the Maryland Department of Health and provides community-based comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery services for individuals suffering from serious mental health conditions.
These cases follow Saunders’ 2021 conviction for a similar Medicaid fraud scheme involving two former behavioral health companies owned by Saunders. As a result of that conviction, Saunders was excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs.
As part of her plea in the prior case, Saunders admitted to creating fake patient files, stealing the identities of licensed counselors, and submitting fraudulent claims to Medicaid for PRP services that had not been provided.
Saunders was sentenced to 9 months incarceration, followed by 9 months home detention, 5 years of supervised probation, and ordered to pay restitution of $470,744.67.
Despite her 2021 conviction, Saunders continued the scheme, hiding her ownership in the company and running Guiding Lives through Jordan and Higgins, all while she was still in jail.
Jordan and Higgins forged signatures created fake patient records and stole the identities of both providers and recipients to submit false claims. Saunders also formed ACSS in September 2022, again hiding her ownership by using stolen personal identity information of others, while she was on probation. Saunders and Higgins ran the same scheme through ACSS.
As a result of the current charges, on February 2, 2025, Saunders was found by the Court to have violated the terms of her probation and was sentenced to three and half years of incarceration. Saunders is scheduled to be sentenced on the current case on July 21, 2025.
Higgins will be sentenced on July 15, 2025, and Jordan is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2025.
In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Brown thanked Assistant Attorneys General James M.C. McHale and Catherine Schuster Pascale, and Senior Fraud Analyst Paul Kidd, Fraud Analyst Laura Webber, and Senior Investigative Auditor Todd Sheffer of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit for their work on this case.
Attorney General Brown also thanked the Office of Inspector General, Health and Human Services Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andre Jacobs, and Special Agent Matt Gray and the Maryland State Police.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $6,845,828 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025.
The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,281,939 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of Maryland.
