East St. Louis woman pleads guilty to healthcare, public housing scams

An East St. Louis woman pleaded guilty in federal court to collecting Medicaid payments for work she never performed and to receiving public housing assistance she wasn’t entitled to.

Shomanicka Holly, 36, entered her plea to the two-count felony charge in the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Holly worked as a personal assistant to a disabled person from August 2016 to June 2019. During that time, she routinely requested pay for time she spent working at Route 3 Liquors in Sauget.

Court documents do not indicate how much time she claimed or how much she was paid through Medicaid.

Holly also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of falsifying a public housing renewal application. The charging document alleged that she failed to disclose that another adult who earned income also resided at her address. As a result, Holly was afforded housing assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that she didn’t qualify to receive.

According to the federal court, Holly faces up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud and up to five more for lying on the housing form. She also may be fined up to $250,000 and ordered to pay restitution on each charge.

Sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on April 13 at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.