Oregon Mother and Daughter Accused of Forcing Haitian Workers Into Labor and Defrauding Medicaid Program

A mother and daughter from Tigard are facing 12 counts of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud after a grand jury returned a *superseding indictment last Wednesday.

They Coerced Victims From Haiti to Work for Little or No Pay

According to the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office, Marie Gertrude Jean Valmont (67) and Yolandita Marie Andre (31) have been indicted for allegedly coercing the employment services of three victims, including a minor, to work for little or no pay in an adult foster care home.

According to court documents, as the owners and operators of Velida’s Home Care in Tigard, the mother and daughter allegedly recruited three victims from Haiti to travel to the U.S. to work. They promised the victims a nice place to live and steady and reliable work.

However, on their arrival in September 2023, the victims were compelled to work long and difficult hours at Velida’s Home Care for little or no pay.

Court documents reveal that Valmont confiscated the victims’ paperwork and controlled practically every aspect of their daily lives as caregivers in the home.

The victims continued to work under threat of serious harm until the minor victims disclosed their situation to a medical professional in the summer of 2024. The Oregon Department of Justice then took control of the investigation.

Valmont is charged separately with confiscating their documents to force them to work at the foster care home.

She is also charged with healthcare fraud by participating with her daughter to lodge “exceptional payment” claims with Medicaid, lying about the victims’ residence in the home, and falsifying a disability claim that allowed her daughter to receive hourly payments as a home care worker.

Valmont and Andre have also been charged with making multiple false statements regarding healthcare fraud. The defendants allegedly received payments from the Oregon Department of Human Services and Medicaid after falsely claiming they needed to pay employees additional hours for foster care of residents with exceptional needs.

Instead of paying the victims, the mother and daughter retained the payments for themselves.

Committing forced labor and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

*A superseding indictment is one that replaces an original indictment in a criminal case. It is used by prosecutors to add new charges, include new defendants, or modify existing allegations based on new evidence or developments.