Vidor, TX, Pharmacist Pleads Guilty to Role in Health Care Fraud Scheme

In Austin today, Brian David Haney, 37-year-old partial owner of Vidor Pharmacy, pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax charges in connection with a health care fraud scheme announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr. 

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane, Haney pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging him with willful offer and payment of illegal remuneration in relation to a federal health care program and one count of making and filing a false Income Tax return. 

By pleading guilty, Haney admitted that from November 30, 2011 to January 2, 2014, he paid kickbacks totaling $813,560.87 to Garry Wayne Craighead.  Craighead, a chiropractor, organized and controlled multiple health care related entities, including eight clinics in Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth, Killeen, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Weslaco, and Beaumont), that derived substantial revenue from the U.S. Department of Labor’s health care benefit programs.  Haney paid Craighead cash for patient referrals of federally-insured employees in need of prescription services.

Haney also admitted to filing a false Income Tax return for calendar year 2013 in which he substantially understated his total income, adjusted gross income and taxable income. 

Haney remains on bond pending sentencing before U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin.  No sentencing date has been scheduled.  Haney faces up to five years in federal prison for the bribery charge and up to three years in federal prison for the tax charge.

On December 4, 2015, Craighead pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation and receipt of illegal remunerations in federal health care programs and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.  On June 10, 2016, Craighead was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and ordered to pay over $17 million restitution to the U.S. Department of Labor. 

The U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General conducted this investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Blankinship and Mark Marshall are prosecuting this case for the government.

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