WASHINGTON — What is it about rail operations and health-care fraud?
Two train operators with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority were arrested Friday on charges relating to a scheme to submit fraudulent health insurance and short-term disability claims for non-existent ailments, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has announced.
Michelle Shropshire, 54, of Waldorf, Md., and Harlisha Jones, 49, of Clinton, Md., and Washington, D.C., were arrested on charges of health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy filed in U.S. District Court. Five others WMATA employees have admitted to involvement in the scheme and have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
According to an indictment, Shropshire and Jones used information from real doctors to create fake medical excuse notes and physicians’ statements, including forged signatures, to submit claims against Jones’ insurance. The insurance company, AFLAC, paid Jones approximately $58,750; Jones paid Shropshire approximately 20% of that for her involvement.
Shropshire also allegedly helped other employees with fraudulent claims that resulted in payments of more than $360,000. That includes the five who have admitted to involvement and said they paid kickbacks to Shropshire: Sharon Washington, 53, of Woodbridge, Va; Selethia Blake, 53, of Waldorf, Md.; Brady Turner, 56, of Clinton, Md.; Lushawn Foreman, 51, of Upper Marlboro, Md.; and Margot Jackson, 52, of Hughesville, Md. Those five are awaiting sentencing.
If convicted, Shropshire and Jones face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, with an additional mandatory sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.
The WMATA case was revealed as prosecutions continue in a long-running investigation of health-care fraud among Amtrak employees. Five employees pleaded guilty to charges last month in the most recent development in that case, which involves employees receiving kickbacks for fraudulent claims by health-care providers [see “Five Amtrak workers plead guilty …,” Trains News Wire, May 30, 2025].
