NEWS RELEASE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
John L. Brownlee United States Attorney Brian McGinn Public Affairs Specialist |
BB&T Building 310 1st Street, S.W., Room 906 Roanoke, Virginia 24011 (540) 857-2974 FAX (540) 857-2179 |
March 24, 2008
FOUR SENTENCED FOR ROLES IN HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEME
United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Mark Allen Bradley, age 34, Katherine Elaine Turner-Yeary, age, 33, both of Snowflake, Virginia, Connie Rose and Weldon Davis were sentenced today in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon.
“These defendants violated the trust that is placed in the hands of health care providers,” said U.S. Attorney John Brownlee today. “I am thankful to all the agents who conducted this very difficult investigation that led to today’s sentencing.”
The four defendants were sentenced for their individual roles in a health care fraud scheme that included wire fraud, obstruction of justice and the unlawful distribution of prescription medication.
Each of the defendants had previously pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against them. Mark Allen Bradley pleaded guilty in October 2007 to conspiracy to defraud Medicare and TennCare, mail fraud, wire fraud, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and obstruction of justice. Bradley was sentenced today to serve 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, $44,126 in restitution to TennCare and $35,135 to MediCare.
Katherine Elaine Turner-Yeary also pleaded guilty in October 2007 to one count of obstruction of justice. Yearly was sentenced to three years probation.
Weldon Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute a controlled substance. Today, Davis was sentenced to three years probation.
Connie Rose-Brickey pleaded guilty to one count of perjury before a Federal Grand Jury while under oath. Rose was sentenced to three years probation.
All of the charges arose out of an investigation conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Virginia State Police and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The investigation focused on the operation of the Virginia Center for Integrative Medicine [VCIM], which is owned and operated by Bradley.
The facts of the case are as follows:
Bradley is a licensed Chiropractor who owns and operates VCIM, which is located in Weber City, Virginia. Although not licensed nor eligible to receive a license to prescribe controlled substances, Bradley contracted with a physician in Tennessee who, for a percentage of the profit, allowed Bradley and VCIM physician extenders to use the doctors DEA number to dispense prescriptions for controlled substances, including Schedule II narcotics such as methadone.
One VCIM patient was provided with prescriptions for methadone by employees of VCIM on May 4, September 20, and October 4 and 11 of 2004. Each prescription was issued after an office visit to VCIM. Bradley was aware of the issuance of each prescription and acted as the treating physician on the September 20 visit before the prescription was handed to the patient. Bradley billed Medicare as if the Tennessee doctor had treated the patient.
On other occasions, Bradley submitted billings for medical procedures he performed himself or that were performed by other staff members using the Tennessee physician and others unique insurance provider numbers. This scheme resulted in Medicare and Tennessee Medicaid, (TennCare) and other insurance companies, overpaying for services performed or paying for services that would not otherwise been paid had the insurance company been aware of the fraud.
On June 29, 2005, Bradley discussed with a VCIM employee, Connie Rose, her testimony before a Federal Grand Jury. The employee appeared before a Federal Grand Jury in Abingdon and provided false and misleading testimony. She later acknowledged that her false testimony was due, in part, to a perception she had that Bradley expected to her to conceal material information and her failure to do so may cause discomfort to her.
On December 12, 2005, Bradley provided altered patient notes to the Grand Jury. The alterations included signatures added well after the patient note had been prepared. Again, on February 6, 2007, Bradley, in response to a Grand Jury subpoena, submitted altered patient notes. The documents were created to document the false billings previously submitted to Medicare and TennCare.
Yeary is a licensed Nurse Practitioner in the Commonwealth of Virginia and has been an employee of VCIM, since May of 2004. On paper, she was to be supervised by a physician residing and working full-time for an unrelated medical practice in Tennessee. Yeary had little direct contact with the doctor.
On several occasions, prescriptions were filled using Yeary’s authorization number despite the fact that she was not at the office that day.
During an audit of VCIM, documents were submitted for review. Those documents contained defendant Bradley’s handwriting on the Progress Notes allegedly prepared by Yeary. Some of the Progress Notes were for patients seen on dates that Yeary was not at the practice or available to see patients. However, the services were billed using Yeary’s provider number. When a Grand Jury subpoena was issued for those patient files previously obtained for the audit, Yeary rewrote patient notes to obliterate any evidence of Bradley seeing patients. Original Progress Notes, which had been provided to Medicare, were removed from the patient files prior to the files presentation to the Grand Jury.
Davis is also a licensed Nurse Practitioner in the Commonwealth of Virginia and employee of VCIM. Davis has admitted to conspiring with Bradley to violate the DEA licensing regulation by illegally issuing prescription drugs, with Bradley’s knowledge and to defrauding Medicare.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Virginia State Police and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia . Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom II prosecuted the case.