Feds seek to seize $2 million in New Mexico Medicaid fraud case

Federal prosecutors are seeking to forfeit more than $2 million they say was seized from Safeway Medical Transportation LLC after the Bernalillo County non-emergency transport provider allegedly billed New Mexico Medicaid for rides that never took place. The company is owned by Abdisaid Mohamed, and the civil forfeiture complaint was announced June 23 by U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.

The complaint says Safeway submitted claims for trips that never happened, including rides that drivers allegedly took for themselves to medical appointments, duplicate trips, inflated mileage and falsified transportation records. Prosecutors say the money represents proceeds of Medicaid fraud and money laundering tied to the company’s billing.

For Sandoval County residents who depended on Medicaid transportation, the case raises a practical question: whether rides arranged through a Bernalillo County provider were billed correctly and whether any local patients were left with gaps in service. The complaint does not name Sandoval County agencies or insurers, but it does involve a Medicaid transportation benefit that reaches patients across New Mexico.

New Mexico Medicaid covers necessary transportation to and from covered medical services, and state rules specifically govern non-emergency medical transportation providers and certification. That system is designed to help patients get to appointments for medical and behavioral health care when they do not have another way to travel. If a provider falsifies mileage or bills for trips that never occurred, the loss falls on taxpayer-funded Medicaid dollars that are meant to move vulnerable patients to care.

The New Mexico Department of Justice said the action was part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which produced charges against 455 defendants and involved more than $6.5 billion in alleged fraud. The nationwide effort included cases in 56 federal districts and 45 U.S. states and territories, with 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units taking part.

For riders who used Safeway, the immediate step is to save appointment dates, trip records, mileage information and any Medicaid paperwork tied to transportation claims. Any mismatch between a real ride and a billed trip should be documented and raised with state Medicaid investigators, since the complaint centers on claims that were billed for transportation services that never happened.