Saugus, CA — Jessa Zayas, also known as Jessa Contreras, a vocational nurse and CEO of two hospice companies, has been arrested in connection with a $2.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Zayas led Healing Hands Hospice Inc. and Humane Love Hospice, which billed Medicare for hospice services between June 2023 and February 2025 that were not medically necessary, not authorized by physicians, and not provided to patients.
The FBI began investigating in September 2023 after a Salvation Army Retirement Residence coordinator in Fresno raised concerns about unauthorized representatives enrolling residents in hospice care, despite the residents not being terminally ill.
Interviews with five patients revealed they were signed up without understanding the process, had never met the doctor who authorized their hospice care, and only received brief nurse visits for vital checks. Some patients received medical equipment like wheelchairs in the mail.
The medical director who allegedly approved these patients told investigators he never saw the majority of them and suspected his identity was stolen for fraudulent paperwork used to qualify 118 out of 122 patients.
The Van Nuys office listed as the business address for both hospice providers was also home to around 20 other hospice companies, which FBI agents found suspicious.
Records also showed inconsistencies in Zayas’s employment history, listing multiple jobs during the time she was running the hospice companies and submitting millions in claims.
FBI agents raided her home in Saugus on Wednesday, leading to her arrest. She faces charges under federal law for health care fraud, which carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
The investigation is ongoing.
