v. Vidauri

Citations

• 2019 COA 140

Syllabus

Defendant submitted three applications for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus benefits to the Garfield County Department of Human Services (Department) between 2008 and 2011. The applications contained inaccurate household income information. Based on her applications, defendant and her children received $31,417.65 in benefits. In 2016, a Department fraud investigator questioned defendant about her financial information. The documentation produced showed that defendant had owned her own housecleaning business and her husband owned his own electrical contracting business during the entire time defendant received benefits, and each owned significant unreported property. At trial, the fraud investigator opined that the applications did not accurately describe defendant's financial state, but she was unable to opine on the amount of benefits defendant would have been entitled to had her application been accurate, nor that the inaccurate application forfeited all rights to benefits. Defendant was convicted of one count of class 4 felony theft, $20,000 to $100,000 and three counts of forgery. On appeal, defendant argued that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction because the prosecution failed to present evidence sufficient to prove her intent or to establish the value of the purportedly stolen benefits. As to her intent, ample evidence created a reasonable inference that defendant understood the generally inverse relationship between income and eligibility. As to the value, the prosecution was required to prove how much defendant was overpaid. However, while the evidence established the total value of benefits defendant received, it did not show the value she would have been entitled to had she fully disclosed her household income. Further, the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence to prove that the overpayment amount exceeded $20,000. But because there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable juror to determine that defendant obtained some be