Former public defender sentenced to prison for healthcare fraud

A former public defender from western Iowa has been sentenced to five months in prison for defrauding Medicaid and cancer patients.

In June, a federal grand jury in Nebraska charged Iowa-licensed attorney Cassi Wigington with healthcare fraud. Prosecutors alleged that beginning in 2012, Wigington fraudulently sold medical equipment such as custom-made breast prosthetic devices for women who had undergone mastectomies.

In some cases, she allegedly had customers sign, in advance, receipts for the delivery of prostheses that had yet to be provided. In other cases, prosecutors alleged, she forged the customers’ signatures. She then sent bills for the undelivered devices to various insurers, including Medicaid, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Aetna and United Healthcare.

“Twenty-five patients were identified wherein their respective healthcare benefit program was billed for products that were never received or provided,” prosecutors alleged. Losses incurred by individual patients and their insurers were alleged to be as much as $28,000.

Wigington pleaded guilty to the fraud charge, and a federal judge recently sentenced her to five months of incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Wigington has also agreed to pay $445,455 in restitution in the case.

Court records show Wigington was first licensed to practice law in Iowa in January 2020. Last year, she admitted in court filings that in August and September 2023, she committed the crime of theft by shoplifting from a Hy-Vee store in Gretna, Nebraska.

Court records show Wigington admitted that during 13 trips to the store she stole more than 300 items worth a total of $2,721. After being criminally charged with felony theft by shoplifting, Wigington entered into a diversion agreement with the Sarpy County Attorney’s Office in which she agreed to pay restitution and the theft charge was dismissed.

In court filings, Wigington acknowledged she initially claimed to have been falsely accused of shoplifting, stating that when she made those statements, she “did not have the surveillance footage of my actions.”

Prior to the Iowa Supreme Court’s June 2025 decision to suspend her license for six months due to the shoplifting case, Wigington had argued for a 30-day suspension, noting that northwest Iowa was in serious need of public defenders.

“Any lengthy suspension of me will result in considerable disruption in the Second Judicial District,” she told the court. “I currently have approximately 700 cases assigned to me — several cases are companion charges pending against one defendant. It is extremely difficult to get lawyers to take these cases.”

License reinstated last year with support of judges

In October 2025, Wigington applied for reinstatement of her Iowa law license. Buena Vista County Attorney Paul Allen wrote a letter to the Iowa Supreme Court supporting her application, as did Patrick Tott, chief judge of Iowa’s Third Judicial District in northwest Iowa, and Iowa Rep. Megan Jones, a Republican from Clay County.

District Court Judge Adam Miller also wrote in support of Wigington, calling her an “attorney of exceptional character and competence” and arguing she was “indispensable” to the Third Judicial District.

In December 2025, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed to lift Wigington’s suspension, making her fully qualified to resume the practice of law in Iowa.

Six months after her license was reinstated, on June 18, 2026, Wigington pleaded guilty in the fraud case. In August, the Iowa Supreme Court suspended her license to practice law until she can show good cause for the court to set aside its order and reinstate her license.

In its request for that suspension, the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board had cited what it called “a troubling, years-long pattern of dishonesty and fraud, including repeated theft accomplished through deception.”

The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to Wigington for comment.