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TAMPA -- A nationwide sweep of alleged Medicare fraud has resulted in charges against 243 people, including four on the Gulf Coast.
The sweep addresses what prosecutors say is more than $712 million in false billing. Alleged local schemes ranged from fraudulent physical therapy billings to millions of dollars in physician services and tests that never occurred.
“The defendants charged include doctors, patient recruiters, home health care providers, pharmacy owners and others,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says in a release. “They billed for equipment that wasn't provided, for care that wasn't needed, and for services that weren't rendered.”
As of Monday morning, the U.S. District Court's Middle District of Florida has unsealed all five local indictments. Those charged include Osmaldo Gomez Aguila, Neil Labori, Amaury Perez and Pilar Garcia Lorenzo.
Aguila was originally the vice president and later the sole officer of Balance Home Health Inc. in Tampa, according to the indictment. He allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking payment for home health services that were not medically necessary, and were not provided to Medicare beneficiaries.
The total payments made to Aguila, according to prosecutors, was a little less than $675,000.
Labori, who lives in Lee County, was the president of My 3 Sons Locksmith Inc. in Lehigh Acres. According to a complaint filed by FBI special agent Timothy Gorman, Labori deposited 52 checks between January 2011 and October 2012 that totaled $258,000 -- keeping transactions under $10,000, which law enforcement officers said would have automatically triggered reporting requirements.
The money, according to prosecutors, came from Angel Mirabal and Quick Solutions Medical Supplies in Houston, which was allegedly paid a little less than $590,000 in fraudulent Medicare claims. Mirabal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and health care fraud in February, and is scheduled to be sentenced this week.
Perez and Lorenzo were owners of Gold Care Home Health Services Inc. on West Busch Boulevard in Tampa. Prosecutors allege the two submitted false and fraudulent Medicare claims for services that were not rendered, medically necessary, or legitimately prescribed by a physician.
The pair had total claims of $2.4 million, according to the indictment.
Others were charged in Miami, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Detroit, Brooklyn and New Orleans.
The indictments and complaints were handled through provisions in the Affordable Care Act that provides an additional $350 million for health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts, according to the release.
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