Live Breaking News & Updates on Barbara County Child Welfare Services

Two women and a man from Santa Maria pleaded not guilty last week to fraud-related charges in which they’re accused of using a California home to collect more than $390,000 in state medical benefits over more than a decade while living in Nevada. 
Seferino Hernandez and Eden Bautista, both 59, and Thelma Pedroche, 62, appeared via Zoom before Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Patricia Kelly on Dec. 7 and entered their pleas to the charges, including presenting a false Medi-Cal claim and criminal conspiracy.
Additionally, Bautista and Pedroche each received an enhancement accusing them of stealing more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits.
Specifically, Hernandez, Bautista and Pedroche are accused of fraudulently collecting funds from January 2005 to December 2016 for the state s in-home support services program, which allows non-medical personal care for elderly and disabled individuals in their own homes, instead of long-term care facilities ....

Santa Barbara County , United States , San Ysidro , San Luis Obispo County , San Diego County Jail , Santa Barbara County Jail , Delfino Ventura , Santa Maria , Jose Mercado Toedte , Gabriel Balderas , Krystal Jimenez , Jacob Pacheco , Pedroche Las Vegas , Juvenal Mora , Richard Hernandez , Gernaldo Lopez , Joe Andrew Silva , Aquilino Cuellar Dominguez , Marcelo Ligario Hernandez , Melisa Garcia , Eden Bautista , Nicasio Bautista , Andre Quintanar , Luis Herrera Toedte , Cody Williams , Misael Maldonado ,