Irving pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud by filing fraudulent Medicaid claims of $3.9 million in non-emergency medical transportation. In addition to paying the nearly $4 million, Irving faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Source: N.M. Department of Justice
Albuquerque, NM – In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, a judge with the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico has accepted a plea agreement for Dorothea Irving of Farmington. In the agreement, Irving pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud by filing fraudulent Medicaid claims of $3.9 million in non-emergency medical transportation. In addition to paying the nearly $4 million, Irving faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
“Medicaid’s non-emergency transportation program exists to help New Mexicans who genuinely cannot get to a doctor’s appointment on their own,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “When people entrusted with driving those patients instead invent trips and pocket the money, they’re stealing from a program built for our most vulnerable residents. This plea agreement makes clear that healthcare fraud, no matter how it’s disguised, will be investigated and prosecuted.”
Irving worked between 2020 and 2026 as a driver for a company that provided non-emergency medical transportation – a service that is covered by Medicaid for those who do not have the ability to transport themselves for non-emergency services like routine doctor appointments.
Along with several other individuals at her company, Irving engaged in a multi-year scheme to submit fraudulent claims for purported transportation provided to her and her children. Together with the company, its owner, and other employees and drivers, Irving submitted false trip records claiming that she or her children were the Medicaid beneficiaries who needed transportation, claiming trips that had not occurred. She and other drivers also signed trip forms falsely representing to have driven each other to appointments to disguise the fact that they were driving themselves.
The company used the false trip records to submit millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to New Mexico Medicaid. The claims totaled approximately $3,957,788, approximately $980,901 of which went directly to Irving.
For more information: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-mexico-woman-pleads-guilty-4m-medicaid-fraud
This case was investigated by the NMDOJ’s Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Bureau (MFEAB). The New Mexico MFEAB receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $3,623,761.71 for federal fiscal year 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,207,920.57 for fiscal year 2026, is funded by the State of New Mexico.
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