Freeport Caregiver Locked Disabled Man in Car for Hours; Charged With Stealing $34K from Taxpayers

Instead of providing essential care, Reyes left autistic man in her car for hours; also collected Medicaid payments while she worked second job

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Freeport home healthcare provider has been arrested after she repeatedly left her developmentally-disabled patient in a parked car outside her home. Rice said the woman also worked an illegal second job while she was supposed to be providing care for her patient.

Esther Reyes, 33, was arrested this morning by DA Investigators and charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Welfare Fraud in the Third Degree, and Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted and is scheduled to be arraigned later today in First District Court, Hempstead.

Rice said that between July 25, 2006 and November 17, 2008, Reyes was employed by a Hicksville couple to be the home health aide to their 23-year-old son who suffered from autism, seizures, and pervasive developmental disorder. Instead of providing that essential care, including dressing and feeding the man, Reyes locked the man in a car in her driveway with only a radio.

Additionally, Reyes worked a second job as a school bus driver while she was supposed to be caring for the man. Medicaid regulations prohibit care providers from having secondary employment during the hours they are working in that capacity. Reyes fraudulently collected $34,157 in Medicaid payments.

“This case shocks the conscience,” Rice said. “This case may not be the largest Medicaid theft we’ve done and it certainly isn’t the most sophisticated but it just may be one of the most disturbing and inhuman. This defendant scammed the system and preyed on the needs of an incredibly vulnerable young man, all for the sake of a buck.”

The case was brought to the attention of the District Attorney’s Office by the Nassau County Executive’s Medicaid Unit.

“This defendant ripped-off the taxpayers and ripped out the heart of a family in need. It’s certainly not the story that this Holiday Season needs,” said County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Weiss of the Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau is handling the case for the District Attorney's Office. Reyes is represented by Mark Silverman, Esq.