Fraud Ring Organizers and
Three Chiropractors Get Prison Sentences

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Mike Williams Tosca Martinez, Nhon Nguyen, and three female chiropractors (Jacqueline Gonzalez, Christina Lapp, and Danielle Morse) have received prison sentences related to improper billing of insurance companies. Court documents indicate that at various times between 2002 and 2006, the defendants operated seven clinics in Southern Florida: More Pain Center, United Chiropractic Center of Florida, Broward Care Medical Center, Broward Care Chiropractic Center, North Miami Beach Health Center, Spine Relief Center, and Miramar Spine Relief Center. Martinez actually owned the clinics, but to qualify to run them without a special license, he pretended on registration applications that each was owned by a chiropractor [1].

To execute the scheme, Martinez and Nguyen arranged to solicit real victims of automobile accidents and individuals participating in "staged" accidents to visit the clinics.

To execute the scheme, Martinez, Nguyen, and other unindicted coconspirators solicited real victims of automobile accidents plus individuals who participated in "staged" accidents to visit the chiropractic clinics for treatment. Fifteen insurance companies were billed for nonexistent and inflated personal injuries and made at least $3,428,851 in payments [2-4].

The participants were not equally involved. Morse worked at two of the clinics for about eleven months (May 2002 to April 2003) and did not own either one. In a telephone conversation, she told me that she was not involved in any patient solicitation and that when she learned about the "staged" accidents, she quit immediately.

Martinez, who organized the ring, pled guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and fraudulent use of another person's social security number. He was sentenced 14 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Nguyen pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. The chiropractors each pled guilty to obstruction of a criminal investigation of health care offenses and making false statements to agents. Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 months in prison, Lapp received a 1-year sentence, and Morse received a 6-month sentence. The court also ordered forfeiture of the $3.4 million.

On August 20, 2009, the Florida Department of Health Web site listed no disciplinary action against the chiropractors.

References

  1. Organizer of health care fraud and insurance ring sentenced to prison. USDOJ news release, July 24, 2009.
  2. Superceding indictment. U.S.A. vs. Mike Williams Tosca Martinez, Nhon Nguyen, and Jacqueline Gonzalez. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:08-CR-60168, Oct 7, 2008.
  3. Criminal information. U.S.A. vs. Christina Lapp. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:09-CR-60114, April 23, 2009.
  4. Criminal information. U.S.A. vs. Danielle Morse. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:09-CR-60113, April 23, 2009.

This article was revised on September 16, 2009.

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