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Press Release

Tulsa Doctor Found Guilty Of Health Care Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Oklahoma
Pre-signed Approximately 9,000 Blank Narcotics Prescriptions Before Afghanistan Deployment

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that STEVEN WILLIAM DELIA, age 61, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was found guilty of HEALTH CARE FRAUD by a federal jury on Thursday, September 29,2016.  The jury also found that the defendant should forfeit $83,769.27 in assets as part of any sentence imposed.

The defendant was indicted in June, 2016 and charged with HEALTH CARE FRAUD, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347.

The Indictment alleged that on or about the February 1, 2010, and continuing through November 9, 2010, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant, STEVEN WILLIAM DELIA, knowingly and willfully executed and attempted to execute the above-described scheme and artifice to defraud money and property owned by and under the custody and control of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, a health benefit program as defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 24(b), in connection with the payment for health care benefits, items and services.

The trial began with testimony on September 26, 2016 and concluded with closing arguments and jury deliberations on Thursday, September 29, 2016.

Testimony at the trial established that DELIA knowingly and willfully, with the intent to defraud, devised and executed a scheme to defraud the Oklahoma Medicaid program by causing the filing of false claims and receiving Medicaid payments for medical services not rendered by a qualified medical professional.

Additional evidence proved that during the time charged in the Indictment, DELIA, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan, pre-signed approximately 9000 blank prescriptions, for his unsupervised physician’s assistant and nursing staff to disseminate Schedule II narcotics during his absence, from the Delia Medical Clinic in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  A percentage of those office visits and prescriptions were billed to Medicaid, causing the filing of false claims and receiving Medicaid payments for medical services not rendered by a qualified medical professional.

The charges are a result of an investigation by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General.

The Honorable James H. Payne, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.  The defendant was released on bond pending sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorney’s Melody Nelson represented the United States.

Updated September 30, 2016

Topic
Health Care Fraud