A North Little Rock speech therapist has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud, according to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. Sarah Childers, 42, admitted to one count of Medicaid fraud, a Class C felony, in a plea entered on July 23.
Childers was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $13,494.30 in restitution. Additionally, she must pay a $3,500 fine plus court costs.
The case revealed that Childers, who was responsible for providing speech therapy services to students in area schools, failed to report to her assigned schools. Despite not providing services, she fraudulently billed Medicaid for the therapy sessions.
"Those who defraud Medicaid will be held accountable because every fraudulent claim diverts taxpayer dollars from a program that countless Arkansans rely on," Griffin said in a statement. He praised the efforts of Special Agent Marcus Custer, Senior Assistant Attorney General Leigh Patterson of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), and Sixth Judicial Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones for their work on the case.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which investigated the case, is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For the Federal fiscal year 2026, the MFCU operates under a grant of $4,781,516, with $3,586,140 provided federally and $1,195,376 funded by Arkansas General Revenue.