State Approved a Medicaid ‘Health Worker’ Provider; Prosecutors Say None of Its 7 Indicted Owners and Staff Were Certified, and It Allegedly Collected $2 Million Before Payments Were Cut Off

What happened

On Oct. 22, Attorney General Peter Neronha announced that a statewide grand jury had returned a 51-count indictment on Oct. 19 against seven people tied to U’Nique Diversity Innovations, LLC (UDI), a Medicaid “community health worker” provider on Branch Avenue in Providence (case P1-2026-4124A-G). According to the AG’s release, the alleged scheme “included billing for services never provided or substantially overstated, falsifying supporting records, and paying illegal kickbacks to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries.”

The defendants are owner Shanee Vega (44), her daughter and co-owner Elaisha Vega Ogiba (28), Larry Fisher (39), Nitasia Burgess (36), Michael Pete (37), Jerry Nicoleau (46) and Yanelis Brown (20). Charges vary by defendant. According to the AG, they include Medicaid fraud, obtaining money by false pretenses, conspiracy, identity theft, public assistance fraud, unlawful appropriation and violations of the state’s RICO statute. NBC 10 reports that Vega faces 48 of the 51 counts.

How the state approved it

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) created the Medicaid-funded Community Health Worker (CHW) program in 2022. According to the AG, the program’s rules say CHW services “must be provided by individuals certified by the Rhode Island Certification Board (RICB) as a CHW, or individuals who have a plan for working toward RICB certification within 18 months.”

According to the indictment, as described by the AG, “EOHHS approved UDI as a Medicaid CHW practice on November 13, 2024.” Vega was its owner, CEO and “sole biller.” The AG adds: “As alleged in the Indictment, none of the seven defendants were certified as community health workers during the relevant period.”

“The State alleges that between November 2024 and June 2025, Vega submitted fraudulent claims that resulted in approximately $2 million dollars in Medicaid payments to UDI. Those claims included services never provided, services substantially overstated, and services purportedly provided to family members and while beneficiaries were incarcerated.”

What else prosecutors allege

All of the following are allegations from the AG’s release:

• AI-written records: Vega and Pete “allegedly generated patient notes and treatment records months after the purported service dates using artificial intelligence.”
• Backdated certificates: Vega, Burgess and Fisher “also allegedly manufactured, altered, and signed backdated employee training certificates, falsely representing that UDI staff had completed training required for Medicaid reimbursement.”
• Paying for recruits: “Vega alleged offered a $1,000 dollar ‘bonus contest’ for employees who recruited 10 new clients.”
• Personal spending: Vega allegedly used Medicaid funds “for her own use, including payments for cosmetic dentistry, aesthetic treatments, and dining and restaurant expenses unrelated to UDI’s business.”
• Food stamps too: Vega and Vega Ogiba face SNAP fraud charges for allegedly failing to report their ownership of UDI and their income from it while still receiving food assistance. Vega allegedly received “more than $29,000 in reported salary by April 2025,” and Vega Ogiba “$8,900 in reported salary during the first quarter of 2025.”
• After the cutoff: Vega allegedly used Medicaid payments to prepay a two-year lease at 715 Branch Ave. “After EOHHS suspended UDI’s Medicaid payments and billing privileges in May 2025, Vega, Vega Ogiba, and Burgess formed two new businesses to operate at 715 Branch Avenue, Providence, using the leasehold interest acquired with fraudulently obtained Medicaid funds.”

Who caught it

Credit where it’s due: the AG says its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit “received a referral in May 2025 following an investigation by EOHHS’s Office of Program Integrity (OPI).” The unit then executed a search warrant at the Branch Avenue site in July 2025. HHS-OIG, the FBI and the state AG’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted. NBC 10 reports the business is now closed.

This is not the only recent case. According to the AG, “Last week, the Office announced Medicaid fraud charges against seven other individuals totaling more than $1 million” (separate cases).

The owner’s response

Reached by phone, Vega told NBC 10, “I don’t have anything to say.” Asked about the alleged fraud, she said: “I’m just the owner. I guess it falls on the owner.” Asked whether she thought she did anything wrong, she said, “I can’t speak on that right now.” NBC 10 reports she said she was driving to meet her lawyer.

Update (Oct 26, 2026): WPRI Target 12’s Account

WPRI’s Target 12 (Tim White, with Eli Sherman, Oct. 23) independently reports the same core facts: seven people indicted on 51 counts in an alleged scheme to defraud Medicaid of “roughly $2 million” through UDI, with claims running “between November 2024 and June 2025.” WPRI says: “Target 12 first reported on the criminal investigation when it was launched last year.”

New details from WPRI, attributed to its reporting:

• Arrests: “Vega, the owner of the company, was arrested at her home Wednesday and released on $50,000 bail with surety. Six others turned themselves in over the following days.” WPRI adds that “The defendants are being referred to the public defender’s office.”
• The wider crackdown: WPRI says it first reported the investigation in June 2025, when EOHHS spokesperson Kerri White confirmed that federal and state authorities were examining what WPRI says she described as significant concerns about fraud and overpayment in the CHW program. Per WPRI, “White said the crackdown was saving Medicaid nearly $2 million a month,” but she declined to say who was under investigation. WPRI also reports, “The state also moved that spring to tighten the program’s billing rules — changes providers warned were overly restrictive.”
• The AG’s statement: “Those who commit Medicaid fraud, as alleged here, are stealing public funds, thereby putting the health and safety of Rhode Islanders at risk,” Neronha said, per WPRI.