Matthew Rule, 40, of Walled Lake, was
arraigned Monday in the 65B District Court in Gratiot County on one count of
Embezzlement from a Vulnerable Adult-$50,000 - $100,000, announced Michigan
Attorney General Dana Nessel. The charge is a 15-year felony additionally
punishable by a fine of not more than $15,000 or 3 times the value of the money
or property involved, whichever is greater.
Rule had access to several bank accounts
belonging to his mother during her stay in a residential care facility between
March and October of 2021. It is alleged that Rule removed between $50,000 and
$100,000 from these accounts for his own uses, including purchases at Amazon,
Meijer, and many other retailers. The investigation was conducted by special
agents with the Department of Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Division
after the administrator of the facility alerted the department of possible
financial misconduct.
"When our elderly or vulnerable adults enter residential care, they don’t check their rights at the door,” said Nessel. “My department will remain vigilant in its work to defend the rights of seniors in Michigan, and to defend them from thefts regardless of family ties between the perpetrator and victim.”
Rule was arrested in Pennsylvania and subsequently arraigned in Gratiot County on January 29 before Magistrate Charles Perkins and given a $100,000 cash bond. He will next appear before the 65B District Court for a pre-exam conference on February 8 at 9 a.m.
The attorney general’s Health Care Fraud Division (HCFD) handled this case for the Department. The HCFD is the federally certified Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for Michigan, and it receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,541,992 for the fiscal year 2024. The remaining 25% percent, totaling $1,847,326 is funded by the State of Michigan.
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