Tupelo Nurse Jailed On Medicaid Fraud Charges

PRESS RELEASE

Jackson, MS—A Tupelo nurse is facing charges for allegedly taking controlled substances from patients at the facility where she worked, announced Attorney General Jim Hood

Jessica Leigh Chailland, age 25, formerly a licensed practical nurse (LPN) at Tupelo Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Tupelo, turned herself in to investigators with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on Thursday following indictment by the Lee County Grand Jury on two counts of “obtaining a controlled substance by means of fraud…”. The indictment alleges, in each count, that Chailland took possession of 24 tablets of hydrocodone and one tablet of oxycodone which had been prescribed for patients, and then converted them to her own use.

Chailland was booked into the Lee County jail and released on a $3,000 bond. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years behind bars. As with all cases, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by Joe Sanderson and Lisa Lanham of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Prosecution of the case will be handled by Special Assistant Attorney General Garland Lyell.