Griffin: ‘Any Medicaid fraud is disturbing, but seeing a grandmother and granddaughter working together to defraud taxpayers is disgusting’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement announcing guilty pleas entered by Mary Rhodes, 71, of Little Rock and Najee Rhodes, 28, of Maumelle on misdemeanor charges of Medicaid Fraud:

“On May 28, my office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit secured negotiated guilty pleas from a grandmother/granddaughter duo to Medicaid fraud for services never rendered. The granddaughter, Najee Rhodes, is a caregiver who billed the state Medicaid program for services she claimed to have performed for her grandmother, Mary Rhodes, but never rendered. Najee Rhodes then shared the money paid out by Medicaid with her grandmother.

“Any Medicaid fraud is disturbing, but seeing a grandmother and granddaughter working together to defraud taxpayers is disgusting. Fighting Medicaid fraud and protecting the tax dollars of hardworking Arkansans are duties I am proud to perform as Attorney General. I congratulate Assistant Attorney General Gabby Davis-Jones for securing this conviction and thank Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones’ office for its assistance.”

With their pleas, Mary and Najee Rhodes were each sentenced to one year of jail, suspended, a $200 fine plus court costs, and payment of restitution to the state Medicaid Program in the amount of $2,857.90.

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About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority. 

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq. 

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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