GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Two brothers, 41-year-old Shawki Elsaid and 26-year-old Ahmed Agwa, worked as personal care assistants or PCAs for two separate agencies in Golden Valley and Fridley. Now they're accused of stealing a combined $277,000 of taxpayer money.
PCAs help elderly or disabled people with daily tasks like bathing, dressing, meals, and errands, then bill Medicaid for reimbursements. But the brothers are accused of using the names of people who never got those services.
According to the criminal complaints, Elsaid billed 3,814 hours while he was out of the country and another 2,400 hours while the recipient was out of the country.
Agwa is accused of the same thing -- and more.
Besides billing for thousands of hours when either he or the recipient was out of the country, he billed 98 hours after that person died.