Colby, KS– A western Kansas woman has been sentenced to pay nearly $18,000 in restitution in connection with filing fraudulent insurance claims for medical services, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.

Lace Morford, 41, of Sharon Springs, was sentenced Wednesday in Thomas County District Court by Judge Kevin N. Berens on one count of insurance fraud, one count of unlawful use of a computer, one count of forgery and one count of theft. Berens sentenced Morford to make restitution in the amount of $17,942.50, pay a $500 fine and spend 15 days in the county jail as a condition of her probation.

Morford pleaded guilty to the charges in February. Investigators with the Kansas Insurance Department determined that Morford filed 15 invalid medical claims with her insurance carrier between June 2016 and May 2019. Morford used computers and a computer network at her place of work to falsify medical records to support her claims filed with the insurance carrier.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Brandon Hottman of the Fraud and Abuse Litigation Division in Schmidt’s office.