AG’s Office obtains conviction on all counts in Medicaid fraud trial

A King County jury delivered a guilty verdict on all 11 counts in a trial against a man who ran a fraudulent scheme to use stolen identities of real nurses to send unqualified imposter nurses into long-term healthcare facilities.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud & Abuse Division of the state Attorney General’s Office, Washington’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

On May 28, the jury found David Mungai Njenga guilty of one count of leading organized crime, which is a Class A felony. This is the first Medicaid fraud trial in Washington state history involving the charge of leading organized crime. The jury also found him guilty of five counts of first-degree identity theft, one count of second-degree identity theft, three counts of first-degree theft, and one count of second-degree theft.

Njenga created an illegitimate nurse staffing agency called Heritage Medical Staffing, Inc., based in Kent, to supply nursing homes and long-term care facilities with imposter nurses using identities and credentials of real nurses that he stole. The nursing homes paid Njenga for what they thought were real licensed nurses. Njenga kept most of that money for himself, paying the imposter nurses far below what real nurses would be paid. At some of the nursing homes, the unqualified nurses displayed a lack of basic healthcare knowledge, such as how to take someone’s blood pressure, and dispensed the wrong medication, putting the health of residents at risk. 

“This verdict is the result of our team’s commitment to cracking down on Medicaid fraud and ensuring the safety of our health system,” Attorney General Nick Brown said. “We are gratified to get justice for the many people harmed and put at risk by these crimes.”

Established in 1978, the Washington State Medicaid Fraud & Abuse Division (MFA) is responsible for criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions of health provider fraud, abuse committed in connection with Medicaid services, and resident abuse or neglect in long-term residential care. 

Since October 2018, MFA has charged 127 criminal cases and obtained 104 criminal convictions. Additionally, MFA recovered approximately $81 million on behalf of the Medicaid program through its civil prosecutions.

Case background

This case was initially referred to the AG’s Office in 2019 by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, after they charged one woman for using fake identification documents to claim to be a licensed registered nurse. She had previously worked for Njenga and received the stolen documents while working for him.

Between May 2017 and October 2019, Njenga ran a multifaceted criminal enterprise by obtaining the identification of five real licensed nurses in Washington state and creating a series of fake IDs using one person’s fingerprints. 

Through his first company, Heritage Medical Staffing, which he later renamed to Pro Med Alliance Medical Staffing, Inc., Njenga recruited unlicensed or unqualified people and presented them as qualified licensed nurses to long-term care facilities in Yakima, Bothell, Redmond, Shoreline, Vashon Island, North Bend, and elsewhere.

Njenga will be sentenced on June 16 in King County Superior Court. He faces a prison sentence ranging from 149 months (12 years) to 198 months (16.5 years) and up to $50,000 in financial penalties.

A co-defendant in the case, Everlyn Njuki, was not included in the trial. She has left the country and a court has issued a bench warrant for her arrest. MFA won default judgments of $40,500 against each of Njenga’s businesses, Heritage Medical Staffing and Pro Med Alliance Medical Staffing. 

This verdict is the result of the hard work of the MFA team, including Assistant Attorneys General Emily Deckman and Joel Merkel, Special Agent Nancy Lewin, Data Scientist April Minton, Forensic Scientist Rebecca Wyllie, Clinical Healthcare Investigator Jéaux Rinedahl, Paralegals Kathryn Perry, Jacob Giem, Kendall Bristol, Mario Barcellona, and Angie Smith-Babbit, and Grants and Operations Manager Eric Feliciano.

The Washington Medicaid Fraud & Abuse Division receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $11,500,040 for federal fiscal year 2026. The remaining 25%, totaling $3,833,344, is funded by Washington state Medicaid fraud recoveries.

A copy of the Amended Information is available here. A copy of the probable cause statement, which includes pre-trial allegations, is available here. 

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