MFCU Secures Arrest of Former Sunland Center Employee for Abuse of Disabled Adult

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today announced the arrest of Jahnice Jones for abusing a disabled adult. Following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office placed Jones into custody. The MFCU investigation revealed that Jones sprayed the face of a disabled adult with disinfectant spray as a form of malicious discipline.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This individual cruelly treated someone placed under her care at a care center. This is absolutely unacceptable, and my office will continue to fight to protect vulnerable Floridians by aggressively investigating and prosecuting these cases.”

Jones is charged with one count of abuse of a disabled adult, a third-degree felony, and faces up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines if convicted. The Attorney General’s MFCU will prosecute the case through an agreement with the Fourteenth Circuit’s State Attorney’s Office.
The Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes providers that intentionally defraud the state’s Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida’s taxpayers. From Jan. 2019 to the present, Attorney General Moody’s MFCU has obtained more than $40 million in settlements and judgments. Additionally, the MFCU investigates allegations of patient abuse, neglect, and exploitation in facilities receiving payments under the Medicaid program.