Press Release
LAST DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY IN CHIROPRACTIC HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEME
April 28, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer, Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, announced that defendant Mike Williams Tosca Martinez pled guilty yesterday, April 27, 2009, in federal court in Fort Lauderdale to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, §1349 (Count 1); money laundering, in violation of Title18, United States Code, §1957(a) (Count 20); and fraudulent use of another person's social security number, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, §408(a)(7)(B) (Count 43).
According to the charges, Martinez, co-defendants Nhon Nguyen and chiropractor Jacqueline Gonzalez, and two other chiropractors orchestrated the scheme while running the No More Pain Center, Inc., United Chiropractic Center of Florida, Inc., Broward Care Medical Center, Inc., Broward Care Chiropractic Center, Inc., North Miami Beach Health Center, Inc., Spine Relief Center, and Miramar Spine Relief Center. To execute the scheme, the defendants solicited victims of automobile accidents and persons involved in "staged" accidents to seek treatment that was not medically necessary at their chiropractic clinics. In this manner, the defendants could file fraudulent insurance claims for non-existent and inflated personal injuries of the staged accident participants. As a result of this scheme, the defendants caused the payment of more than $3 million in false insurance claims.
Earlier, co-defendant Nguyen pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering, and Gonzalez pled guilty to charges of obstruction of a criminal investigation of health care offenses and making false statements to agents.
Martinez faces maximum sentences of 10 years' imprisonment for each of Counts 1 and 20, and 5 years' imprisonment for Count 43. Nguyen faces maximum sentences of 10 years' imprisonment for each of Counts 1 and 20. Gonzalez faces maximum sentences of 5 years for each count. The remaining two chiropractors, defendants Danielle Morse and Christina Lapp, also have been charged in separate informations with obstruction of a criminal investigation of health care offenses and making false statements to agents, and they face maximum sentences of 5 years for each count.
U.S. Attorney Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CI, the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau for investigating this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry C. Wallace, Jr.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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