Press Release
MIAMI DME OWNER SENTENCED FOR MEDICARE FRAUD
August 28, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced that on August 27, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz sentenced defendant Ariel Delgado, a Miami DME owner, to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The defendant was also ordered to forfeit $474,609 and pay restitution in the amount of $170,709.
According to the Indictment and the factual proffer read in open court at the time of the plea, on January 10, 2008, defendant Delgado became the president and registered agent of Caballero De Paris Inc. (hereinafter "Caballero"), a pharmacy purportedly doing business in Miami-Dade County. From January 10, 2008 through March 5, 2008, Caballero billed Medicare $1,388,051. Medicare paid Caballero $645,318 on these claims. Delgado was the sole signatory on the account into which all of the Medicare fraud proceeds were deposited.
During the investigation, FBI agents interviewed the two doctors who appeared to have signed 80% of the prescriptions upon which Caballero's false billings were based. Both doctors reviewed a list of the patients on whose behalf Caballero had billed, and both denied treating or prescribing medicine to any of the patients on the list.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Bernstein.
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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