Meet Judy Terecia Sanchez, our latest local celebrity and a real contender for the “Lubbock Family Values” Hall of Fame. Judy was recently sentenced to 17 years in federal prison, proving that while the Hub City might be slow on many things—like road construction or getting a decent Target on the south side—the feds eventually catch up when you treat Medicaid like your personal Powerball win.
The scam was as simple as it was sociopathic. Back in 2015, Judy hired a nurse aide to help with her quadriplegic son. The aide lasted a whopping two weeks before quitting, but Judy didn’t let a little thing like “complete lack of medical care” stop the money train. For the next six years, she played the role of a dedicated forger, faking timesheets and cashing over $227,000 in checks meant for the person who was actually supposed to be keeping her son alive.
While Judy was busy collecting her $200k “parenting bonus,” her son was living a life that would make a horror movie director blush. When authorities finally checked in, an EMS worker with nine years on the job said they’d never seen a living person in such a state. We’re talking pus-filled bed sores and a maggot infestation. It takes a special kind of West Texas grit to ignore your son rotting in the next room while you’re calculating how much the government owes you for the privilege.
Of course, we have to give a sarcastic slow-clap to Texas Health and Human Services. It only took them six years to realize they were sending checks to a ghost. In a state that screams about “pro-life” values and “fiscal responsibility” from every Lubbock billboard, it’s comforting to know that a woman can forge her way through a quarter-million dollars while her disabled son suffers in total silence for over half a decade.
Judy now has 17 years to think about her life choices, though she’s also been ordered to pay back the $227,377. Given the local economy, she might have better luck trying to sell dirt to a dust storm.
Is it really a Lubbock news story if it doesn’t involve a massive failure of government oversight and a “God-fearing” citizen committing a crime that would make Satan take notes?
