A mother and daughter have pleaded no contest in Sacramento County Superior Court to committing grand theft against the In Home Supportive Services program.
Judge Lawrence Brown sentenced Aquilla Parrish, 51, to two years in prison, and her daughter, Quilla Parrish, 31, to three years in prison. Both women were ordered to pay restitution to the IHSS program, as well as the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance. They also agreed to pay restitution on other counts which were dismissed as part of the negotiated disposition, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.
IHSS is a statewide program that provides services to income-eligible people who are blind, elderly or disabled, and who would be unable to remain in their homes without assistance. To qualify, recipients must be at risk for out-of-home placement due to functional disabilities. Authorized services include food shopping and preparation, cleaning, personal care needs and accompaniment to medical appointments.
Protective supervision is the highest category of service hours for people who are confused, mentally impaired or mentally ill, and is available only if a need exists for 24-hour-a-day supervision, according to the news release.
Officials said Quilla Parrish gained admission to the IHSS program by false claims she had her mother made that she needed assistance with almost all aspects of her daily life, such as getting out of bed, using the bathroom, bathing and dressing. They claimed Quilla Parrish was so mentally impaired that she required 24-hour protective supervision to remain safely in her own home. But, officials said, Quilla Parrish was easily able to care for herself and do the things that she and her mother claimed she could not do.
In a separate scheme, Quilla Parrish defrauded the Cal Works paid child care program by falsely claiming that she was attending school full time for more than five years, when she was not enrolled at all. Officials said she submitted more than a dozen manufactured documents as false proof of her schooling.
The loss to the IHSS program from the Parishes' theft totaled $49,612, officials said, and the loss to the Cal Works paid child care program totaled $128,608.
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