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FROM STAFF REPORTS 

Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the conviction and sentencing of Paige Taylor Smith for theft from residents of a Shelby County and a Montgomery County nursing home while she was employed as business office manager at the facilities.

Smith, 58, a resident of Alabaster, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree theft of property, a class B felony, on May 17. She was sentenced on June 27 to serve 46 months split to serve 12 months in the Shelby County Jail and 12 months supervised probation upon her release. Taylor paid $54,830 in restitution prior to Monday’s sentencing.

“Theft from residents of a nursing home is a reprehensible act, and those who victimize them must be held to account under the law,” Marshall said. “My office, working with other state and local agencies, will remain vigilant to identify and prosecute criminals who prey upon the vulnerable.”

The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case after a referral from the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The investigation determined that Smith had stolen $52,000 from three residents of AHAVA Healthcare of Alabaster, while she was employed as the facility’s business office manager.

During that investigation, it was found that, after her employment at AHAVA was terminated, Smith obtained employment at Crowne Healthcare of Montgomery, where she stole $3,000 from a resident of that facility.

Attorney General Marshall commended his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, including Assistant Attorney General Katie Langer, for its hard work in successfully prosecuting the case. He also thanked the management of AHAVA Healthcare of Alabaster and Crowne Healthcare of Montgomery for their diligence in identifying and reporting the theft and for their cooperation in the investigation.