EAST ST. LOUIS — James L. Porter, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced 24-year old that Kiara Hopkins of Belleville, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that she engaged in a scheme to steal from a health care program.

Hopkins will face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to 3 years of supervised release. During her plea hearing, Hopkins admitted that she had submitted false and fraudulent claims in relation to her alleged performance of personal assistant services in the Home Services Program, a Medicaid Waiver Program designed to allow individuals to stay in their homes instead of entering a nursing home.

She admitted to falsely billing the program between July 22, 2013 and November 26, 2013, when she purportedly rendered personal assistant services to a customer when, in fact, she had not been caring for the customer during those times.