MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police arrested a 35-year-old registered behavioral therapist from southwest Miami-Dade Monday after state investigators accused her of ripping off Florida’s Medicaid system, billing for visits she never made.
According to an arrest warrant, an anonymous tipster led investigators to look into Ana Cecilia Tirado Cabrera, who lives in the Richmond West area and worked for Abreu Quality Care.
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The allegations in the warrant center around a woman whose son was receiving behavioral health services from Tirado.
That woman told investigators that Tirado had been assigned to her son since the end of 2021 and was only visiting their home at most three or four times per week, at 30 to 40 minutes apiece, to provide services.
The warrant states that after Tirado gave birth in April of 2022, the visits became even less frequent, dropping down to one or two times per week. However, authorities allege that she was “consistently” billing for five to six days per week of therapy.
At one point, authorities said she billed four eleven straight days of therapy in April, beginning just three days after she gave birth.
At times, Tirado would show up to the boy’s house and park outside, but never leave her vehicle, then call his mother and ask to be excused for the day “due to not feeling well from her pregnancy,” the warrant states.
According to the warrant, investigators later interviewed Tirado, who claimed she was providing services for six days per week and only took three days off to care for her newborn.
Investigators said they confronted Tirado in August of 2022, who said she understood that it was a crime to get paid for services not rendered.
At one point, the warrant states, Tirado “paused and asked if she would be going to jail.” Investigators redacted an alleged confession from the document.
According to authorities, Medicaid paid Tirado $29,548.56 for services never rendered.
Police took her to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a felony charge of filing a false Medicaid claim. She was no longer listed in jail records as of Tuesday afternoon.