Charlotte Woman Sentenced for Defrauding the North Carolina Medicaid Program

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Crystal Sherrell Jackson, 40, of Charlotte, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for submitting fraudulent bills to the North Carolina Medicaid Program (NC Medicaid) for psychotherapy services and urine drug testing that were never provided, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Jackson was also ordered to pay $1,623,983.08 in restitution.

"Medicaid fraud is a crime on all of us - it steals taxpayer money, makes healthcare more expensive, and compromises the integrity of our entire healthcare system," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "In addition, it is a nightmare for those whose identities are stolen. We are grateful for the teamwork essential to combatting this widespread fraud."

"The only acceptable level of Medicaid fraud is zero, and we're going to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute fraud at every instance," said North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson. "I'm grateful to U.S. Attorney Freguson and his team for their partnership in prosecuting this fraudster and winning back Medicaid dollars for taxpayers."

According to court documents and court proceedings, Jackson was a North Carolina-licensed clinical addiction specialist-associate and NC Medicaid enrolled provider who owned and operated a company called Jackson Consulting and Services, LLC (JCS). JCS held itself out as a mental health agency, clinical laboratory, and consulting business. Jackson also enrolled JCS with NC Medicaid so that both she and the company could bill NC Medicaid for those services they purportedly provided to eligible NC Medicaid recipients. However, between 2020 and 2024, Jackson and JCS submitted over $1.9 million in sham claims for payment to NC Medicaid for drug testing and psychotherapy services that were either never performed at all or for which they were already paid.

To carry out the scheme, Jackson obtained licensure under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), which enabled Jackson to bill NC Medicaid for the highest allowable reimbursement rates for drug testing, by submitting false documents. Jackson then

filed fraudulent claims for expensive urine drug testing, and psychotherapy services, using the personal information of NC Medicaid recipients, including their names, addresses, dates of birth, and unique NC Medicaid recipient numbers. Jackson obtained the personally identifiable information of these Medicaid recipients in a variety of ways, including from having a prior or unrelated treatment relationship, and from associates. In most cases, the NC Medicaid recipients did not know their information was used by Jackson and JCS to submit fraudulent claims for reimbursement, did not authorize the filing of fraudulent claims on their behalf, and never received the services for which Jackson and JCS billed the NC Medicaid Program. Jackson targeted a vulnerable Medicaid population, and her victims included more than a dozen children, incarcerated individuals, and even submitted bogus bills for services she claimed she performed for Medicaid recipients who were deceased at the time the services were purportedly rendered.

As Jackson previously admitted in court, she also engaged in transactional money laundering by spending the proceeds of her unlawful scheme.

In announcing Jackson's sentence, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell said, it is "an assault on society for benefits programs to be defrauded," and stressed the importance of general deterrence.

Jackson pleaded guilty in March 2026 to healthcare fraud and transactional money laundering. She is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the FBI in Charlotte, the North Carolina Attorney General's Medicaid Investigations Division, and IRS-Criminal Investigation for their investigative work in this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Armstrong, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina Fleisch, with the North Carolina Medicaid Division, prosecuted the case.

If you suspect Medicare or Medicaid fraud, please report it by phone at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477), or via email at [email protected].

To report Medicaid fraud in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division at 919-881-2320 or fill out an online complaint formLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.