New Albany Nurse Arrested for Medicaid Fraud, Illegally Obtaining Controlled Substance

JACKSON, Miss. (Press Release) — A New Albany nurse has been arrested on charges of medicaid fraud and illegally obtaining a controlled substance, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Shawna Russell Smith, 48, turned herself in Tuesday at the Union County Sheriff’s Office following indictment by a Union County Grand Jury. Count One of the indictment alleges that Smith, while employed as a registered nurse at a care center in New Albany, did illegally take for her own use one tablet of hydrocodone, which had been prescribed for a patient and then filed a claim with the Mississippi Division of Medicaid for reimbursement for the drug. Counts Two and Three allege that Smith did illegally obtain possession of one tablet of Hydrocodone on two separate occasions involving two other patients and allegedly converted them to her own use.

Smith was booked into the Union County Jail and released on a $10,000 bond. As with all cases, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.