Mom abuses her kids, fakes their diagnoses to get Medicaid money, MN cops say
The 34-year-old Crosslake woman, who in June was found guilty on 11 charges, was sentenced Aug. 7 to 468 months in prison, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a news release.
Ellison said the mother 'physically, verbally and emotionally abused her three children,' who were 11, 9 and 8 when their mom was arrested in 2022.
'She abused her position of authority,' prosecuting attorney Dominika Kins said in court, according to the Brainerd Dispatch. 'And she stripped them of an actual childhood.'
According to a criminal complaint, the mom received more than $35,000 from the state of Minnesota for medical care for her 9-year-old, who was being treated for dropping hemoglobin levels.
But an investigation revealed the numbers had deteriorated because his mom was withdrawing blood from him using a syringe and picc line, according to the court documents. She would then make the other two kids dump the blood in a toilet.
She also faked diagnoses for her other two children, including making her 11-year-old wear a cast for more than two years, authorities said.
'Another child stated that (their mom) would instruct the child to vomit at the doctor even though he didn't need to, and to cough as if he had asthma, at which time asthma medication was prescribed,' the attorney general said.
The mother was accused of having violent outbursts against her children, according to investigators, who said she choked each of them when their rooms weren't clean.
'When Defendant would do this to (the 8-year-old), she could barely breathe and felt like she was about to pass out,' authorities said. '(The child) said her head would start hurting, starts to race, she wouldn't be able to walk right, her vision was blurry, her breathing was 'not so good' and she coughed a lot after.'
The children said their mom would often beat them with a spoon, charging cord or a belt, sometimes making them bleed, according to the court documents.
Investigators said she would withhold food from her children and made death threats.
'I was never safe,' the 11-year-old child told authorities, according to the court records.
The mother was found guilty in June of attempted murder, three counts of child torture, three counts of stalking and four counts of theft by false representation, the attorney general said.
He referred to her alleged actions as among the most 'heinous and agonizing' crimes he has seen as the attorney general.
'The facts we proved in court are nothing short of horrifying,' Ellison said in June. 'It strains the imagination and breaks my heart into pieces to think about the torture and anguish — physical, mental, and emotional — that (she) inflicted on her own children.'
Crosslake is about a 145-mile drive northwest from Minneapolis.
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Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Why young Americans dread turning 26 as they face health insurance chaos
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The erosion of the law has now created an 'insurance cliff' for Americans who are turning 26 and don't have a job that provides medical coverage. Some, scared off by the complexity of picking a policy and by the price tags, tumble over the edge and go without insurance in a health system where the rate for an emergency room visit can be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. Today, an estimated 15% of 26-year-olds go uninsured, which, according to a KFF analysis, is the highest rate among Americans of any age. If they qualify, young adults can sign up for Medicaid, the federal-state program for Americans with low incomes or disabilities, in most but not all states. Otherwise, many buy cheap subpar insurance that leaves them with insurmountable debt following a medical crisis. Others choose plans with extremely limited networks, losing access to longtime doctors and medicines. They often find those policies online, in what has become a dizzyingly complicated system of government-regulated insurance marketplaces created by the ACA. The marketplaces vary in quality from state to state; some are far better than others. But they generally offer few easily identifiable, affordable, and workable choices. 'The good news is that the ACA gave young people more options,' said Karen Pollitz, who directed consumer information and insurance oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration. 'The bad news is the good stuff is hidden in a minefield of really bad options that'll leave you broke if you get sick.' Publicly funded counselors called 'navigators' or 'assisters' can help insurance seekers choose a plan. But those programs vary by state, and often customers don't realize that the help is available. The Trump administration has cut funding to publicize and operate those navigator programs. 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Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat and the first Gen Z member of Congress, was able to quit his job and run for office at 25 only because he could stay on his mother's plan until he turned 26, he said. Now 28, he is insured through his federal job. 'The ACA was groundbreaking legislation, including the idea that every American needs health care,' he said. 'But there are pitfalls, and one of them is that when young adults turn 26, they fall into this abyss.' Back in 2010, the decision to make 26 the cutoff age for staying on a parent's insurance was 'kind of arbitrary,' recalled Nancy-Ann DeParle, deputy chief of staff for policy in the Obama White House. 'My kids were young , and I was trying to imagine when my child would be an adult.' Before that time, children were often kicked off family plans at much younger ages, typically 18. The Obama administration's idea was that young adults were most likely settling into careers and jobs with insurance by 26. If they still didn't have access to job-based insurance, Medicaid and the ACA marketplaces would offer alternatives, the thinking went. But over the years, the courts, Congress, and the first Trump administration eviscerated provisions of the ACA. By 2022, a shopper on a federal government-run marketplace had more than 100 choices, many of which included expensive trade-offs, presented in a way that made comparisons difficult without spreadsheets. Jack Galanty, 26, a freelance designer in Los Angeles, tried to plan for his 26th birthday by seeking coverage on the California insurance marketplace that would ensure treatment for his mild cerebral palsy and for HIV prevention. 'You're scrolling for what feels like years, looking at 450 little slides, at the little bars, and trying to remember, 'Was the one I liked No. 12 or 13?'' he recalled. 'It feels like it's nearly impossible to make a good choice in this scenario.' Out-of-pocket expenses have soared. 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The Hill
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Kennedy is gutting health advisory panels to weaken the Affordable Care Act
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