Elder Fraud in New Mexico

A Caring.com report found that Indiana has the second-highest rate of senior fraud in the nation, with 76.9 complaints per 100,000 residents among people over 60, who collectively lost $4.8 billion to fraud nationally. Indiana experienced a 240% increase in fraud cases against older adults over three years, attributed partly to the state's growing elderly population projected to reach 20.1% by 2030. The report recommends seniors and families guard against pressure tactics, tech support scams (the most common type with over 17,000 cases in 2023), and cryptocurrency fraud schemes.

April Guadalupe Hernandez was indicted by a Bernalillo County grand jury for assuming the identities of licensed nurses and illegally providing hospice care, including mis-transcribing a medication order that nearly resulted in a fatal morphine overdose. Hernandez, a certified nurse assistant, allegedly stole the identities of three nurses from Texas, California, and Kansas to gain employment at three healthcare facilities over 18 months, defrauding them of approximately $40,000. She faces 19 charges including identity theft, nursing without a license, elder abuse, and violations of the Nursing Practice Act, with a potential sentence of up to 27.5 years in prison

A 27-year-old certified nurse assistant in New Mexico was indicted on 19 counts including identity theft, elder abuse, nursing without a license, and Medicaid fraud after assuming the identities of licensed nurses to provide unauthorized hospice care while receiving approximately $40,000 in fraudulent Medicaid payments. The fraud scheme lasted over 18 months across three hospice facilities and resulted in a near-fatal morphine overdose to a patient; Hernandez faces up to 27.5 years in prison if convicted.

April Guadalupe Hernandez was indicted on 19 counts after impersonating nurses to provide care to hospice patients in New Mexico, allegedly stealing approximately $40,000 through fraudulent billing. Operating under a stolen identity, Hernandez mis-transcribed a medication order that nearly resulted in a fatal morphine overdose for one patient, leading to charges including identity theft, unlicensed nursing practice, fraud, and resident abuse.

A 26-year-old certified nurse assistant in New Mexico, April Guadalupe Hernandez, was charged with 19 counts of misconduct including nursing without a license, identity theft, abuse of a resident, and fraud for falsifying nursing credentials and stealing identities of nurses from Texas, California, and Kansas. Over one year, Hernandez worked at three hospice centers using different name variations, claiming to hold higher nursing credentials than she possessed, and made a potentially fatal medication error (an overdose of morphine) that was caught before administration; she has an arraignment scheduled for September 8th.

Andrea Estell Cochran, a 51-year-old from Houston, was arrested and charged with federal bank fraud after using forged passports to impersonate account holders and withdraw approximately $11,000 from multiple banks across Washington state and Maine in 2024. She faces up to 30 years in federal prison plus additional state charges, with a plea deal hearing scheduled for August 28, 2025. A separate study by VPNPro found that seniors aged 60 and older across all U.S. states lost significant sums to fraud in 2022, with losses ranging from approximately $3 million to $31 million per state, highlighting the widesprea

Andrea Estell Cochran, a 51-year-old from Houston, was arrested and charged with federal bank fraud after using fake passports to impersonate account holders and withdraw approximately $11,000 from multiple Washington state banks in 2024, with similar attempts in Maine; she faces up to 30 years in prison and state charges across multiple Washington counties. Additionally, a VPNPro study reveals that seniors aged 60 and over across all U.S. states lost substantial sums to fraud in 2022, with per-victim losses ranging from $13,118 to $30,150 depending on the state, highlighting seniors as prime targets for scammers