Dan Haggerty: A lawsuit was filed today involving a WRAL investigation and a possible misuse of millions of dollars in Medicaid money. The whistleblower in this case is now suing for wrongful termination and defamation. WRAL investigator, Cullen Browder, is here with the details of the lawsuit, Cullen.
Cullen Browder: So Dan, here is the lawsuit filed this morning in Wake County Superior Court seeking undisclosed damages. Rob Morehead was fired after he questioned tens of a million of dollars the state spent to set up Medicaid healthcare systems.
Rob Morehead: Mismanagement, abuse, fraud. Who is responsible if I tell you something is wrong?
Browder: IT employee alleges the program misspent millions in taxpayer money outside of federal Medicaid guidelines. Today, attorney Katie Abernethy of The Noble Law firm filed this wrongful termination lawsuit, the defendants of state Department of Information Technology, a DIT employee, and a health and human services manager accused of circulating a bogus sexual harassment complaint. The suit says Morehead received “a proverbial pink slip and brazen attempt to baselessly sully his good name” for speaking out.
Morehead: This is about the principle and my good name. And that is more important. At the end of the day, all I have is my name, and I will not have my name sullied by any entity that basically steps up in order to try to destroy me.
Browder: So, the state acknowledges that the program is behind schedule, however, a North Carolina Medicaid director, Dave Richard, denies any fraud. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services and the State are now asking questions about all this. We reached out for a response to the lawsuit, but as is common with litigation, neither agency is commenting right now.