Federal prosecutors have charged six individuals and Community Home Health Care LLC, a South Portland-based home care agency, with health care fraud conspiracy after uncovering a scheme that allegedly billed MaineCare nearly $48 million between 2019 and 2025.
According to federal indictment, the defendants submitted false Electronic Visit Verifications for a single MaineCare client named “Client 1,” leading MaineCare to pay more than $600,000 in fraudulent claims since 2020. MaineCare later reversed approximately $35,000 of those payments.
Authorities arrested all six individuals and seized cash from their homes, including $116,854 in Biddeford and $53,768.85 in Augusta. The company, established in 2016, is alleged to have billed more from MaineCare than any other home health care agency in the state during that period. The state suspended its billing on June 30 after the fraud was discovered.
Prosecutors allege Mohammed Alkhalaf, a personal support specialist at Community, used his access credentials to log into the Electronic Visit Verifications system with the usernames and passwords of co-defendants Adel Al Rashid, Sura Almohammed, and Ethar Alyaseen. The defendants shared these credentials to record false visits under their names.
Abd and Faysal Kalayaf Manahe reportedly learned federal agents were investigating the company on June 23 and instructed a witness known as “Person 2” to avoid communicating with law enforcement and provide misleading information if questioned. Alkhalaf allegedly told an FBI agent that he had never filed care hours for anyone but himself when questioned at his home in Augusta.
All six individuals and the company face charges of health care fraud conspiracy, which carries up to 10 years in prison. Abd and Manahe also face obstruction counts, while Alkhalaf faces a false-statements charge.
Manahe has prior federal convictions related to health care fraud. He runs Decent Health Care in Augusta, which billed MaineCare $4,848,112 in 2025 before the state suspended billing on June 30 after evidence showed services were never provided. Manahe was previously charged with conspiring to fix wages of personal support workers but was acquitted in a 2023 jury trial.
The case is part of the Trump administration’s Homeland Security Task Force, which involves federal agencies including the FBI, HHS-OIG, HSI, and IRS-CI working with Maine’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. U.S. Attorney Andrew Benson stated: “Health care fraud — in all its forms — costs all of us, and today’s arrests should make it clear that if you steal from our health care system for your own financial gain, you too will be shut down and brought to justice.” The defense attorneys for the accused have declined to comment.
