Woman sentenced for Medicaid fraud
A Spokane woman, convicted of defrauding Medicaid by not providing services to a brain-injured man she was paid to care for, has been sentenced to 30 days of home confinement and ordered to pay the state $20,000.
Melissa Katruska was under contract with Washington’s Medicaid program to provide 178 hours of care per month to a man who needed help dressing, taking medicine, making meals and getting around, according to the state attorney general’s office, which investigated the matter and brought charges. Katruska worked less than half of the contracted hours, a news release said.
During a three-year period in which Katruska was paid to care for the man, the Spokane Fire Department was called 69 times when she should have been with him but wasn’t, the release said. In addition, Katruska was paid by someone else to provide in-home child care during many of the same hours she was supposed to be caring for the man, the attorney general’s investigation found.
Katruska was convicted of 10 felonies in Spokane County Superior Court.
Sergeant on leave after arrest
A veteran Spokane County sheriff’s sergeant has been placed on paid administrative leave after being arrested for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, police said Monday.
Sgt. Pete Bunch, who has worked for the Sheriff’s Office for more than 30 years, was taken into custody Friday after a woman reported him prowling in her South Hill yard, said Spokane police Officer Jennifer DeRuwe.
Police responded to the 3200 block of Marie Court about 10:30 Friday morning after the woman reported a man looking into her windows. Police found a man acting “odd” and refusing to comply with their commands.
Additional officers were needed to take him into custody, DeRuwe said. Bunch was booked and released on the charges at Spokane County Jail. He was immediately placed on leave, officials said.
BOISE
Otter back to work following surgery
Gov. Butch Otter returned to work part time Monday with his right arm in a sling after undergoing shoulder surgery a week earlier.
The governor met with key lawmakers and announced he’ll hold a news conference this afternoon on his transportation proposal.
Otter’s press secretary, Jon Hanian, said the surgery repaired a torn rotator cuff and two detached tendons suffered by the governor in a team roping accident.
“It takes awhile to recover from, and it’s pretty painful,” Hanian said.
“But he is back. You don’t really tell him ‘no,’ ” he said.
Sandpoint
Events mark Lincoln’s birthday
The Sandpoint Library is planning a commemoration of President Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday at 3 p.m. Thursday at the library at the corner of Division and Cedar.
A statue of Lincoln in the lobby was donated by the Sandpoint High School class of 1916. The public is invited to the event in the lobby, which will include cake and punch.
Events in Spokane on Thursday include a wreath laying at noon at Spokane’s Lincoln statue at Main Avenue and Monroe Street and an event at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox for a national Lincoln teach-in at 10:30 a.m.
To sign up for the teach-in on the Web, go to www.history.com/lincoln.