The New Mexico Department of Justice and its Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Bureau have filed a lawsuit against two operators of Kids in Need of Support Services (KISS), a nonprofit afterschool program in Silver City, for a combined 91 counts of fraud and identity theft. The complaint alleges that program operators Susanne Kee and Bethanne Kee-Medran knowingly submitted at least $1,626,496 in fraudulent Medicaid claims for services that were never rendered while illegally using both adult and children’s social security numbers, falsely representing psychological disorders and more.

“The defendants in this case have been taking advantage of a system meant to help those in need, stealing social security numbers of children in their care and fabricating psychological disorders for these children in a scheme to defraud taxpayers. Their actions not only resulted in the theft of public funds, but it will likely require the affected children and their families to spend substantial time and resources to correct falsified medical records that could impact future employment. We intend to hold these bad actors accountable for harming the children in their care and will do everything in our power to assist victims and their families for the harm that has been caused by this criminal enterprise.” – AG Torrez