Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the conviction of a Pulaski County woman for drug fraud. Cheri Bates-West pleaded guilty in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Bates-West was sentenced to four years of probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, as well as 40 hours of community service and drug screenings.
“I will not stand for individuals taking advantage of some of our most vulnerable Arkansans,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Nurses are one of the most trusted professions and patients deserve caregivers that honor that trust. Those who take advantage of their patients should be punished.”
Bates-West, 39, of North Little Rock, admitted to an investigator with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to taking a resident’s morphine on two different occasions. She was terminated from her position as a nurse in North Little Rock. She turned herself in last year and pleaded guilty to two counts of controlled substances-fraudulent practices, Class D felonies.
To report Medicaid fraud or abuse or neglect in residential care facilities, contact the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud hotline at (866) 810-0016 or oag@arkansasag.gov.