Parkville Mother and Daughter Receive Sentences for Multi-Million Dollar Medicaid Fraud

A Parkville mother and daughter have been sentenced for their involvement in a scheme that defrauded the Maryland Medicaid program of over $3.6 million. Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced the sentencing of Tasha S. Saunders, 46, and her daughter Tamyra Jordan, 26, detailing their fraudulent activities involving two behavioral health companies. The case highlights the significant financial impact of healthcare fraud on public programs and the individuals they serve.

Tasha S. Saunders was sentenced on December 8, 2025, in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County to a total of 10 years of incarceration, with five years suspended for each of two counts of Medicaid Fraud. Her daughter, Tamyra Jordan, received a sentence of five years of supervised probation and was ordered to pay $232,900 in restitution on November 6, 2025. A third individual involved in the scheme, Robert Higgins, is scheduled for sentencing on January 13, 2026. Higgins has previously pleaded guilty and agreed to repay $341,900.

The fraudulent scheme operated between November 2019 and September 2024. Saunders managed two companies, Guiding Lives Inc. and Another Chance Supportive Services LLC (ACSS), which submitted false claims for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP) services. PRP is designed to provide community-based rehabilitation and recovery support for individuals with serious mental health conditions. Jordan was reportedly recruited by her mother to oversee billing operations for Guiding Lives Inc. The defendants are accused of forging signatures, fabricating patient records, and using the identities of healthcare providers and Medicaid recipients to submit claims for services that were never rendered. This elaborate fraud resulted in Maryland Medicaid reimbursing $3,672,958.66 for these non-existent services.

This is not Saunders’s first encounter with the law for similar offenses. She was previously convicted of Medicaid Fraud in 2021, pleading guilty to a single count for fraudulent activities involving two different mental health companies. In that case, she admitted to creating fake patient files, assuming the identities of licensed counselors, and submitting fraudulent claims for unprovided PRP services. Her prior sentence included nine months of incarceration, followed by nine months of home detention, five years of supervised probation, and an order to pay $470,744.67 in restitution.

As a consequence of her earlier conviction, Saunders was placed on the Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Exclusion List. This exclusion prohibits individuals and entities convicted of healthcare-related offenses from participating in or receiving payments from federal healthcare programs. Despite this, Saunders proceeded to conceal her involvement with new companies and lied on a Medicaid provider application.

Between January 1, 2022, and September 12, 2024, Saunders, Jordan, and Higgins allegedly operated Guiding Lives, continuing to bill Maryland Medicaid for services that were not provided. They allegedly created fake patient records to hide the fraud, including billing for recipients who had also been falsely claimed under Saunders’s previous companies. These recipients, it is stated, never received any services from any of the companies. Saunders’s operation of Guiding Lives occurred while she was on the HHS-OIG Exclusion List. During this period, Guiding Lives reportedly received $2,837,958.66 from Maryland Medicaid for fraudulent claims.

Furthermore, while still on probation and excluded from Medicaid participation, Saunders established ACSS in September 2022. She reportedly concealed her ownership by using the names of multiple individuals for the company’s incorporation. From June 1, 2023, through September 12, 2024, Saunders and Higgins allegedly submitted false claims for ACSS totaling $835,000.00. Payments for these claims were reportedly directed to bank accounts controlled by Saunders and Higgins. These submissions allegedly misrepresented the legitimacy of ACSS, the individuals operating it, and the absence of anyone on the HHS-OIG Exclusion List within its operations. The claims also misrepresented that services were provided when, in fact, they were not.

The investigation involved the execution of numerous search warrants for electronic records, including emails, cloud storage accounts, and cell phones. These records reportedly revealed a systematic method for generating fabricated patient records necessary for billing Maryland Medicaid. Investigators also interviewed numerous Medicaid recipients who denied any knowledge of the companies or the services billed under their names. The investigation also found that Saunders allegedly stole the identities of licensed healthcare providers, including faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, to create false referrals and rehabilitation plans. These fraudulent documents were submitted to the Maryland Department of Health to gain authorization for billing PRP services that also never occurred.

Attorney General Brown acknowledged the efforts of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit, including Unit Director Zak Shirley, 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. Assistance was also provided by the Office of Inspector General, Health and Human Services, including Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andre Jacobs, and Special Agent Matt Gray, as well as the Maryland State Police.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through a grant totaling $7,119,096 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The remaining 25%, amounting to $2,373,032 for FY 2026, is funded by the State of Maryland.

Article by Mel Anara, based upon information from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

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