MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WDNews) – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the conviction of a former Alabama Medicaid Agency employee for stealing more than $100,000 in public funds.
Natalie Colette Lewis, 60, of Montgomery, pleaded guilty to aggravated theft of property before Montgomery County Circuit Judge Brooke Reid. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2. She faces up to 30 years in prison, a $60,000 fine, and forfeiture of her state retirement benefits.
Lewis worked as a medical care benefits specialist in the agency’s Non-Emergency Transportation Division since 2006. Prosecutors said she submitted 1,631 false transportation reimbursement claims on behalf of her son, a Medicaid recipient, for appointments that never occurred. From December 2019 to November 2024, she received $103,413.26 in fraudulent payments, which she used for personal expenses.
Authorities said Lewis had three prior felony convictions when she applied for the state job but lied on her application, denying she had any. She was later granted a restoration of rights pardon in 2017.
“Public service is a responsibility, not a personal financial opportunity,” Marshall said. “When employees violate that duty for personal gain, it is a direct assault on the taxpayers of Alabama.”
The theft was discovered by the Medicaid Agency and investigated by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Mays is prosecuting the case.
