A federal grand jury has indicted Mikia Antoneice Noble, 37, of North Chesterfield, Virginia, the co-owner and chief operating officer of a Richmond-area mental health provider, in a scheme the Justice Department says put more than $49 million in false claims in front of Virginia Medicaid. Noble was arrested Oct. 28, the day the department announced the case. An indictment is only an allegation, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
The indictment, returned Oct. 20 in the Eastern District of Virginia, charges one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. The claims span January 2022 through April 2026, a stretch of more than four years.
What the Richmond provider billed Virginia Medicaid for
Noble co-owned Advancing Communities Everywhere LLC, known as ACE, and also claimed to work as a mental health professional there, according to the Justice Department’s announcement. The department says ACE billed Virginia Medicaid for crisis teams that included a trained, licensed professional, when a single, less-qualified mental health worker actually delivered the services.
For Virginians on Medicaid, the practical question is whether the care on their own billing history matches the care they received. Members who used a crisis service from any provider, or who were offered a hotel stay or other perk to sign up for services, are the people best placed to notice a mismatch. The case turns on paperwork that members rarely see, so the notices Medicaid does send, and any statements from a managed care plan, are the first place a discrepancy would show.
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Hotel rooms, borrowed signatures and audits
The indictment says ACE paid more than $2 million for hotel rooms that were offered to Medicaid beneficiaries, and that the offers induced them to accept services they did not need. Offering something of value to steer a patient toward care is one of the patterns health care fraud prosecutors look for, because it turns a medical decision into a sales pitch.
Records are the other thread. The department says medical records were falsified with the signatures of licensed professionals who took no part in the crisis services. Noble is also accused of adding her own signature to records to show she took part in services when she was out of the country at the time.
When Medicaid managed care organizations audited ACE’s crisis services, the indictment says Noble and her co-owner lied to them. Managed care organizations are the private plans that run much of Virginia’s Medicaid coverage and pay providers on the state’s behalf, so their audits are an early checkpoint for exactly this kind of billing.
Who announced the charges and who investigated
Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General of the department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, announced the case with Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ian Kaufmann, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office. The release carries no direct quotes from any of them.
The FBI Richmond Field Office and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General investigated. Trial attorneys Lauren Randell and Zachary H. Ray of the department’s Health Care Fraud Section, together with Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Day, are prosecuting the case. The department’s news page lists the announcement as a press release dated Oct. 28.
Reporters and members with questions about the case itself can reach the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-514-2007. The release is numbered 26-1275 and lists the National Fraud Enforcement Division as the issuing component.
A grand jury indictment is the formal step that starts a federal prosecution, and it requires only that jurors find probable cause. It does not establish guilt. Noble will have the chance to enter a plea and contest the evidence, and the department’s own release says that every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Where Virginia Medicaid members can report billing they do not recognize
The Virginia attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit takes reports of provider fraud, recipient fraud, and abuse or neglect. Its reporting page lists the phone numbers (804) 371-0779 and 1-800-371-0824, an email address of MFCU_mail@oag.state.va.us, and a complaint form. The page lists office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A useful report is specific. It names the provider, the date of the service the member says never happened, and any offer of a hotel stay, gift or ride that came with it. Keeping the explanation-of-benefits notices, plan letters and any texts from the provider in one place lets an investigator see the pattern instead of one complaint.
Nothing in the announcement says how many Medicaid members were affected, how much of the $49 million was paid out, or whether any money has been recovered. Those questions belong to a court case that has only just begun, and Noble has the right to answer the charges there.
Does a Medicaid statement list care that never happened?
The indictment describes records signed by professionals who did not take part in the services and billing that did not match the care delivered. A Medicaid member who finds a service on a statement that never happened has to move on two fronts at once: report it, and keep proof that holds up.
“The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit” includes a fraud evidence and report log and a first-hour recovery plan. Part 3, “Reporting, and What Each Report Does,” explains what each call or form leads to, so the order of reports is settled before a statement raises the question.
Get the evidence and report log in the Senior Fraud Defense Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
