On April 16, 2026, former teacher Jeanett Valenzuela Ayub pleaded guilty in federal court, admitting that she conspired with others to launder millions of dollars of health care fraud proceeds.
In total, Valenzuela admitted that she and her co-conspirators billed Medicare nearly $51 million for bogus prescriptions and were paid approximately $20 million, ultimately laundering at least $14 million dollars of Medicare proceeds and paying $3.7 million in unlawful kickbacks.
According to her plea agreement, Valenzuela and co-conspirators owned and operated multiple durable medical equipment (DME) companies, which sold orthotics – including back, wrist, and knee braces – to Medicare beneficiaries.
Valenzuela admitted that in operating the DME companies, she and co-conspirators paid unlawful kickback payments to sham marketing companies who provided bogus prescriptions for DME. The prescriptions were signed by physicians who had no legitimate doctor-patient relationship with the beneficiary; had not conducted a legitimate medical evaluation of the beneficiary; and had not impartially determined that the beneficiary actually needed the DME.
When agents interviewed Medicare beneficiaries during its investigation, the Medicare beneficiaries confirmed that they never spoke with a doctor, were never examined by a doctor related to the prescribed DME, and were not familiar with the prescribing doctor; never used nor even opened the packages containing the DME; and many of the Medicare beneficiaries still had the DME in their original unopened packages.
Valenzuela further admitted that she used DME companies to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare. Once Valenzuela’s or her co-conspirator’s DME companies were suspended from billing Medicare, Valenzuela conspired to put DME companies in the names of nominee owners while she and her co-conspirators maintained control of the companies and the monies received from Medicare.
Among Valenzuela’s co-conspirators was her brother, Fernando Valenzuela Ayub, who previously pleaded guilty to the same offense and is pending sentencing. When her brother was arrested on December 9, 2024, for his involvement in this conspiracy, Valenzuela absconded to Tijuana. Ultimately, Valenzuela was detained in August 2025 in the Dominican Republic after she left Mexico and traveled with family for a vacation.
After being detained in the Dominican Republic, Valenzuela was removed to the United States through Miami, Florida, where she was then arrested by U.S. Marshals and ultimately transported to San Diego to face the pending charges against her.
Valenzuela is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24, 2026, at 9 a.m.
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