Hospice bed by Bret Kavanaugh on unsplash

A federal grand jury has indicted 34-year-old Jesse Zayas of Santa Clarita on six counts of health care fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly obtaining personal Medicare information by going to retirement homes in Fresno and Kern counties outside of regular hours, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. 

Zayas, a nurse, is accused of enrolling residents in hospice care who didn’t need it and submitting at least $2.5 million in false claims to Medicare. From June 2023 through May 2025, she allegedly billed Medicare for hospice care for over 100 patients who were not terminally ill.

According to court documents, Zayas and others visited the senior care homes when managers were gone, knocked on patients’ doors and asked for their information to enroll them in hospice. 

Zayas allegedly caused false Medicare claims to be submitted with fraudulent representations of terminal illness and forged doctor certifications. Medicare paid the claims into bank accounts she controlled. 

She was the CEO of Healing Hands Hospice and Humane Love Hospice in Van Nuys, a town north of Los Angeles, while also working another full-time job. 

Last week, FBI and Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agents arrested Zayas and took $77,000 in cash that was hidden under her bed during a search of her home. 

If convicted, Zayas could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for health care fraud, plus a mandatory two-year consecutive term for aggravated identity theft. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Barton and Brittany Gunter are prosecuting the case.