DME Owners Indicted for Submitting False Billings to Medicare

DME Owners Charged with Billing for Services That Were Not Provided

March 18, 2010 - LOUISVILLE, KY—United States Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced today that a federal grand jury in Louisville returned a superseding indictment against Leobaldo Perez Gonzalez, age 50, of Miami, Florida, and Alexander Castillo Dopico, age 31, on charges of conspiracy, health care fraud, submitting false claims, and wire fraud.

The Superseding Indictment alleges that between 2007 through August of 2008, Perez Gonzalez and Castillo Dopico through their corporations, Universal of Work Services and Steel Quality Medical, submitted false and fraudulent claims to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for products which were not authorized nor provided to patients. Specifically, the superseding indictment alleges that, Perez Gonzalez and Castillo Dopico submitted claims on behalf of Florida patients or deceased patients that were purportedly treated by Kentucky physicians, when in fact neither the patients nor the physicians had any knowledge of one another. Moreover, during their investigation, investigators learned that the products which Universal of Work Services and Steel Quality claimed they provided were never provided. A search warrant was executed on both the businesses, and both businesses were almost devoid of any of the products it claimed to have been providing.

In the event of a conviction, the maximum potential penalties are 35 years imprisonment, a $1,500,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of up to 5 years.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lettricea Jefferson-Webb, and it was investigated by Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Perez Gonzalez and Castillo are scheduled to appear for arraignment before the United States Magistrate Judge on, Tuesday, April 20, 2010, at 9:30 a.m., in Louisville, Kentucky.