M     A Cebuana married to a Boholano was wanted by federal authorities after she was accused as part of those who defrauded the California Medicaid involving nearly $4.6 million putting lives of disabled children at risk. The fraud case was considered the largest in California 's Medicaid history. Last time, it was reported, the suspect was in Cebu and had since been reunited with her Boholano husband. An Associated Press report quoted US Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek as saying that most of the people involved are Filipinos, half of whom are illegally residing in the US .  The same report said that 22 of the accused remain at large as only 20 were arrested. The suspect was identified as Susan Bendigo, a registered nurse, who is also the director of Sante Fe Springs' Excel Plus Home Health Services, a provider of nurses to home health services, according to the indictment. Bendigo who is married to a Boholano was charged last year but has reportedly fled to the country. 

The defendants are accused of either posing as licensed nurses or organizing a scheme to send unlicensed nurses to provide home or school based care to disabled patients, many of them children with cerebral palsy or other developmental disabilities, the office of the US attorney for central California said in a written statement.  Each defendant has been charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and at least one one count of health care fraud. Some parents and patients became suspicious of the nurses when they notced their lack of skills.  In one case, a "nurse" was unable to replace a tracheotomy tube  that had fallen out of a young patient's neck.

In another case, an impostor nurse simply fled a medical situation when she apparently was unable to provide assistance according to the statement.  Bendigo and a certain Priscilla Villabroza were accused as ringleaders who were charged separately.  A news report said Bendigo and Villabroza instructed the workers to lie about their status and used the names of licensed nurses for documents, the indictment stated.  Bendigo was reported missing in the US while Villabroza has pleaded guilty to five counts of health care fraud  and faces up to 50 years  in prison. According to court documents, some of the unlicensed workers had foreign training but had never passed a US nursing exam.  Others had no medical training or were illegal immigrants, prosecutors said.