Like we reported in June, a Corvallis woman who ran a local day support program for Medicaid recipients was facing more than 20 criminal charges after allegedly billing the state for services her company never delivered. She has now reversed her prior not guilty plea according to Oregon Department of Justice spokesperson Jenny Hansson
She says Linda Thomas, 57, of Corvallis, Oregon pleaded guilty to one count of Aggravated Theft and one count of Making a False Claim for Health Care Payment and was sentenced to 15 days jail, 100 hours of community service and 3 years of probation.
Thomas also paid full restitution, $44, 775.36, at the time of sentencing. She is now barred from employment paid with Medicaid or Medicare funds. If her probation is revoked, she faces up to 24 months in prison.
Thomas was the owner of Gateway of Willamette Valley, a Day Support Program for developmentally disabled individuals. The Oregon DOJ-Medicaid Fraud Unit received a referral initiated by the Benton County Developmental Diversity Division after conducting an onsite visit at Gateway. Thomas billed the Oregon Medicaid program for day support services provided to 11 different Medicaid clients – services that investigators say never actually happened.
The numbers added up fast: Thomas had been facing 14 counts, including aggravated first-degree theft and first-degree theft, plus multiple counts of making false claims for healthcare payment. Gateway, the company, is named in seven more counts on its own.
This isn’t an isolated case. Attorney General Dan Rayfield rolled announced the charges against Thomas in late June as part of a broader sweep targeting healthcare fraud across the state. The case has landed with an assistant attorney general from the DOJ, deputized to prosecute locally.
Gateway had been around since 2016, according to state business filings, before quietly dissolving in March of last year — right around the time the allegations started surfacing.
The company’s pitch was day support services could mean getting Medicaid recipients out of their care homes and into structured activities. Court documents describe a simpler reality behind the scenes — billing for days when clients weren’t actually showing up.
The scheme unraveled after a coordinator with Benton County’s Developmental Diversity Division flagged the discrepancies to the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. When investigators sat down with Thomas, she didn’t fight it — she admitted to the fraudulent billing outright, telling them she’d done it to avoid laying off staff, according to the affidavit.
Thomas is out on a conditional release. The case moves forward Sept. 8, when she’s due back in court.
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