Louisville Fugitive And Former Owner Of Jet Medical Supplies Charged With Health Care Fraud And Wire Fraud

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The former owner of Jet Medical Supplies, LLC, was charged by a federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, on five counts of wire fraud, five counts of health care fraud, and ordered to forfeit all property and gross proceeds derived from the offenses, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Jorge Jesus Cubillo Fernandez, a fugitive from the law, also, was added to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General’s Most Wanted Fugitives list.

According to the April 17, 2013 indictment, Fernandez, age 43, purchased Jet Medical on May 27, 2010. Jet Medical was a durable medical equipment supply company located at 12700 Shelbyville Road in Louisville. After purchasing the company, Fernandez began submitting claims to Medicare for payment. The indictment alleges that, from May 2010 until at least February 2011, Fernandez fraudulently requested payment from Medicare, via a carrier, and payment was received via electronic funds transfers from Medicare for items, benefits, services, and products that were never provided.

The investigation revealed that a number of billings were submitted by Jet Medical for beneficiaries whose unique Medicare beneficiary number had been compromised. The majority of claims submitted by Jet Medical allegedly used a unique beneficiary number, which had been associated with fraud by another provider. Further, the investigation revealed that Jet Medical, through Fernandez, billed for items, benefits, products, supplies, or services purportedly provided to beneficiaries located outside Kentucky. However, interviews with the Medicare beneficiaries determined that they did not receive the items or services for which Jet Medical had billed Medicare.

If convicted at trial, Fernandez faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, a fine of $2,500,000 and three years of supervised release.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lettricea Jefferson-Webb and is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During Fiscal Year 2011, health care fraud enforcement actions by the Justice Department and HHS recovered nearly $4.1 billion in cases involving fraud on federal health care programs. The OIG Most Wanted Fugitives Web site continues to garner national and international attention and greatly assists in helping to capture fugitives charged with defrauding Federal health care programs and stealing millions of taxpayer dollars. The Most Wanted Fugitives Web site features an online tip form and a hotline number for individuals to report fugitive-related information to OIG in English or Spanish, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Most Wanted Fugitives list can be accessed at https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/fugitives.