Mother Sentenced to 17 Years in Federal Prison for Fraud Scheme Involving Quadriplegic Son

A Lubbock woman was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining, forging, and cashing Texas Medicaid checks payable to a former health worker for her quadriplegic son, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.

Judy Terecia Sanchez, 60, was sentenced to 204 months' imprisonment on February 19, 2026, by United States District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, after Sanchez pled guilty in July last year to one count of bank fraud. Judge Hendrix also ordered Sanchez to pay restitution of $227,377 to Texas Health and Human Services.

"The defendant inflicted unimaginable suffering on her son by fraudulently pretending he received the care he needed and deserved," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "Justice in the form of this lengthy prison sentence is deserved for the defendant's callous exploitation of her son's tragic condition for her own gain."

"This sentencing was the culmination of a tremendous team effort, and I would like to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the Texas Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their hard work and dedication in seeing that justice was served," said Texas HHS Inspector General Raymond Winter, whose agency initiated the investigation. "This case was about something much more troubling than fraud; it was about a severely disabled young man who was deprived of services paid for by taxpayers. Ms. Sanchez received more than $200,000 under false pretenses-monies intended to provide professional help for her own quadriplegic son to perform basic functions that most of us take for granted. Instead, her son went without for more than six years while she stole taxpayer dollars and lied about it. I hope today's sentencing serves as a potent reminder that Texans will not tolerate this behavior and that the pursuit of justice will be relentless."

Court records reflect that Sanchez's son suffered a debilitating injury that left him severely disabled, bed-ridden, blind, non-verbal, non-mobile, and breathing via a tracheostomy. These disabilities made him wholly dependent on others for all of his needs and qualified him for home health care through the Texas Medicaid program. In 2015, Sanchez selected a certified nurse aide to assist with her son's bathing, toileting, repositioning in bed, hygiene care, and restorative activities. According to court documents, the nurse aide resigned after approximately two weeks, but Sanchez did not replace her with another aide to provide her son's care. Instead, for the next six years, Sanchez falsified time sheets as if the nurse aide was still caring for her son and submitted the time sheets to Medicaid for payment. Sanchez directed Medicaid to mail the checks - each of which were payable to the nurse aide-to a post office box controlled by Sanchez. Sanchez then forged and cashed the checks.

According to information presented at sentencing, Sanchez's fraud was discovered when her son was found in an extreme state of neglect and misery toward the end of his life after Sanchez left him unattended. During the investigation, an EMS worker stated that, in her nine-year career, she had never seen a living person in such a state. When imposing the 17-year sentence, Judge Hendrix observed that Sanchez's fraud had prevented qualified Medicaid care for her son and noted details about his condition, involving pus-filled bed sores and a severe maggot infestation covering his body.

The Office of the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dallas Field Office-Lubbock Resident Agency, and Texas Health and Human Services conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Howey prosecuted the case.