Ex-officer Morgan Ortiz receives three-year prison sentence and $1.5 million restitution order tied to fraudulent substance abuse recovery program

Organ Mountain News report

ALBUQUERQUE - A Second Judicial District Court judge has sentenced former New Mexico State Police officer Morgan Ortiz to three years in prison for his role in a Medicaid fraud scheme tied to a now-shuttered substance abuse recovery program, according to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.

The sentence is the maximum allowed under Ortiz’s plea agreement and includes $1.5 million in restitution, which Ortiz and his co-defendant were ordered to pay jointly and severally. Ortiz was taken into custody immediately following Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Raúl Torrez said the scheme involved deliberate abuse of public healthcare systems intended to help people in crisis.

Ortiz, a former officer with the New Mexico State Police, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to two counts of Medicaid fraud exceeding $20,000, conspiracy to commit identity theft and practicing medicine without a license. He had previously been convicted of driving while intoxicated.

Court records show Ortiz and his co-defendant, Dr. Keith Levitt, operated a substance abuse recovery program that submitted hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent Medicaid claims. Levitt was sentenced to probation in December for his role in the case.

The investigation was conducted by the Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Bureau within the New Mexico Department of Justice.

The bureau receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through a federal grant and the remaining 25 percent from the State of New Mexico, according to the Attorney General’s Office.