BOSTON — A Lawrence woman has been indicted on manslaughter, caretaker neglect, and fraud charges for failing to properly care for her husband while collecting approximately $135,000 through MassHealth’s Personal Care Attendant program.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office announced on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, that Judit Diaz de Vargas, 49, of Lawrence, had been indicted by an Essex County grand jury. Vargas is charged with involuntary manslaughter, caretaker neglect causing serious bodily injury, caretaker neglect permitting abuse or neglect of an elder, Medicaid false claims, and larceny by false pretenses over $1,200.
Vargas was arraigned on Sept. 25, 2026, in Essex Superior Court, where bail was set at $15,000. She was ordered not to work with the Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program or any other MassHealth program, not to work or volunteer with elderly or disabled people, surrender her passport, and remain in Massachusetts unless granted permission to travel.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Vargas applied in April 2023 to serve as her husband’s personal care attendant, allegedly identifying herself as his “ex-daughter-in-law” after being told MassHealth regulations prohibit spouses from serving as PCAs.
Prosecutors allege MassHealth paid approximately $135,000 between April 2023 and November 2025 based on timesheets Vargas submitted for services she claimed to have provided to her husband.
In October 2025, Vargas’ husband was admitted to Lawrence General Hospital with more than 10 pressure wounds, including at least eight described as unstageable, along with extreme emaciation, according to the Attorney General’s Office. He died four days after he was admitted to the hospital from sepsis caused by infections of his necrotic wounds.
The AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division began investigating after receiving a referral from an adult protective services agency contacted by the hospital during Vargas’s husband’s stay. Based on medical records and interviews with medical professionals and family members, the AGO alleges that his wounds would not have progressed to the extent they did if Vargas had provided proper care.
