Augusta mother with disabled daughter admits to Medicaid fraud

Nov. 17--An Augusta woman who used her disabled daughter to steal over $100,000 from the state program that enables disabled residents to live at home instead of institutions pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud.

Luvinia Nipple, 61, admitted in Richmond County Superior Court that she fraudulently collected $112,532 over a two-year period, money that was intended to pay for her disabled daughter's care.

Henry Hibbert of the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit said that in exchange for Nipple's plea to Medicaid fraud, the remaining 74 charges, which included false statements and identity fraud, would be dismissed.

Nipple collected the money by submitting fraudulent time sheets for people who were supposed to be caring for her daughter. To do some of the fraud, Nipple duped a mentally challenged relative into submitting a false document to the state's billing agency, Hibbert said. Although that man was named in the indictment, the charges against him were dismissed Friday.

Nipple insisted Friday that she was the sole caregiver for her daughter and never allowed anyone to harm her. She tried to tell Judge Ashley Wright that the caregivers she hired were responsible for the crime. Wright told her she couldn't accept the plea if she claimed innocence.

"My daughter, she needs me," Nipple cried.

"I bought my daughter things she needed," Nipple said of what she did with more than $100,000 in two years. Pressed by the judge to explain what she did with the money, Nipple said she also sometimes paid bills for housing and insurance.

Her defense attorney, Anton Rowe, said she spent the money she was not entitled to but she wasn't clear on all of the details. Rowe asked Wright to sentence Nipple to a straight 10-year probation sentence, pointing out that she suffered a heart attack in August and is the sole caregiver for her daughter.

Hibbert asked the judge to send Nipple to prison for no more than two years.

Wright said she was reluctantly sentencing Nipple to 10 years of probation. She is prohibited from receiving any funds her daughter is entitled to. She is to make monthly payments, starting next month, to repay the $112,532.

A second woman named in the indictment, Margaret Rivers, 62, was sentenced to three years of probation for one count of Medicaid fraud. Wright granted her first offender status. Rivers will not have to pay any restitution, but Wright imposed a $500 fine that Rivers can convert to community service.

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