Indiana AG Todd Rokita Charges Home Care Boss Banned From Owning His Business

Vice President JD Vance stood at the White House in May and called Hawaii's Medicaid fraud record a complete disgrace.

Indiana just showed what a state can catch without needing that kind of public shaming.

The man busted running a $10.9 million fraud scheme was never even allowed to own the business in the first place.

An Anonymous Tip Cracked the Case Wide Open

It started with one complaint to the Indiana Department of Health.

Someone alleged that Alexander Byrnes was secretly running Senior Home Care Agency in Mooresville.

That should not have been possible.

Byrnes had a criminal record that state law says should have kept him out of that kind of business entirely.

He allegedly ran it anyway.

Indiana bars certain felons from controlling personal services agencies for exactly this reason.

Attorney General Todd Rokita's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit followed the tip and built a case against six defendants.

Investigators allege the scheme billed Indiana Medicaid for attendant care, home assistance and transportation services that were never actually provided.

"It is important to remember that these people are stealing from taxpayers – from you," Rokita said.

Cortez Crook, a Senior Home Care employee, allegedly pocketed more than $70,000 by fraudulently logging attendant care hours that never happened.

Nichole Hoyt and Jessica Schoof together are accused of stealing almost $224,000 the same way.

Investigators say Crook and LaShawn Wright colluded so closely that both now face felony charges after a manhunt following an arrest warrant.

The company was built in Indianapolis in 2023, then shifted its Medicaid paperwork to Mooresville a year later.

Stolen Medicaid Money Allegedly Funded Trips to Monaco and Tokyo

This is where the story stops being a spreadsheet crime and starts being personal.

Senior Home Care Agency existed to deliver attendant care, home assistance and transportation to homebound Hoosiers who could not get to a doctor's office on their own.

Investigators found evidence Byrnes traveled to Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Hollywood, Monaco, Ibiza and Tokyo while the scheme was running.

Somewhere in Indiana, an elderly or disabled Medicaid recipient waited on care that a caregiver never showed up to give.

Somewhere else, a name got signed off on hours that were never worked, and Cash App allegedly moved the money out the door.

Six people now face felony charges, and prosecutors remind the public that every one of them is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But the pattern matches exactly what Vice President JD Vance has been warning about since he stood up his federal anti-fraud task force this year.

Vance has spent the year calling out California, New York and Hawaii by name for sitting on billions in anti-fraud funding without prosecuting it aggressively enough.

He deferred $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California alone and froze new Medicare enrollments for hospices nationwide.

His task force has already helped shut down roughly 800 hospice and home health operations in California.

Rokita's own Medicaid Fraud Control Unit didn't need any of that federal pressure to rack up a real record.

It has secured more than $100 million in recoveries and roughly 250 indictments since he took office in 2021.

The Real Divide Isn't Red Versus Blue, It's Who Bothers to Show Up

Hawaii's own fraud unit produced zero indictments and zero convictions over the past several years, according to Vance.

Indiana turned a single anonymous tip into six felony defendants in a matter of months.

That is not a coincidence, and your uncle who watches Fox News every night already knows why.

States that treat fraud like a real crime catch real criminals.

States that treat it like a paperwork inconvenience let guys like Byrnes book flights to Monaco on your dime.

Every dollar allegedly stolen by Senior Home Care Agency was a dollar that should have gone to a homebound senior or a disabled Hoosier who actually needed a caregiver to show up.

Instead, prosecutors say it went toward a lifestyle most taxpayers footing the bill will never afford themselves.

Nobody outside Byrnes' circle noticed until a single person picked up the phone and reported it.

That is the entire difference between a state that polices its own Medicaid program and one that waits for Washington to force its hand.

Rokita's office says the unit will keep chasing this money and pursuing prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

For Hoosier taxpayers, that is the whole point of having a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the first place.

Sources:

• Staff, "6 Charged With Stealing $11 Million From Indiana Taxpayers In Medicaid Fraud Scheme," The Federalist, July 23, 2026.
• Ashley J. DiMella, "Vance turns up heat on states with federal cash threat over Medicaid fraud crackdown," Fox News, May 13, 2026.
• Staff, "JD Vance Is Finally Crushing The Fraudsters," Daily Caller, May 18, 2026.
• Staff, "Attorney General Todd Rokita files charges in $10.9M Medicaid Fraud case," WBIW, July 22, 2026.
• Staff, "Indiana Medicaid fraud scheme: Agency obtained millions and took international trips, docs show," NewsNation, July 22, 2026.
• Staff, "6 people face fraud charges over $10.9M Medicaid scheme in Mooresville," The Indiana Lawyer, July 22, 2026.
• Staff, "AG Todd Rokita touts $100M in Indiana Medicaid provider fraud recovery," The Indiana Lawyer, February 24, 2026.