Three former Memphis caregivers are accused of cashing in on hours they never worked, with a Shelby County grand jury indicting them on TennCare fraud and theft charges. The panel returned the charges in January, and police moved in this week to arrest the trio: Lakesha Albright, 42; Erika Humphreys, 36; and Yosha Fletcher, 36.
Allegations and arrests
According to Action News 5, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division opened its case after a June 2024 referral from the TennCare Office of Program Integrity that flagged suspicious time records. Investigators say all three women provided in-home care to the same disabled TennCare member between January 2022 and June 2024, and were allegedly paid for hours they never actually worked.
The Shelby County grand jury charged each of them with one count of TennCare fraud and one count of theft of services. Authorities arrested Albright on January 21, while Humphreys and Fletcher were taken into custody on January 23.
How TennCare fraud probes work
The Medicaid Fraud Control Division of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is tasked with digging into provider fraud, abuse, and financial exploitation, often after referrals from TennCare program integrity staff. The division notes that it zeroes in on red flags such as claims for services not rendered, overlapping time entries, and other billing schemes that can drain public dollars from the TennCare program.
For more details on how these units operate and coordinate, see the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the TennCare Office of Program Integrity.
Legal next steps
The counts returned by the Shelby County grand jury are criminal allegations that now move into the county court system, beginning with arraignments and any bond hearings that may follow. The accusations are not proof of guilt, and the defendants will have a chance to challenge the charges as the case works its way through court…