Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Five people plead guilty in health care scheme

As reported in the Miami Herald

Five persons have pleaded guilty in a scheme to defraud private health insurers of almost $10 million, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The fraud involved The Medicine Shoppe, a pharmacy in Palm Beach Gardens run by Joseph Sutera. Agustin Castellanos, a licensed physician specializing in neurology; Robert Catanese, a chiropractor; Eric Ressner, a psychiatrist; and Stephanie Mirante, a pharmacy technician, all pleaded guilty to assorted charges.

According to the allegations, Ressner and Castellanos permitted Sutera to use their names to substantiate fraudulent prescriptions. Ressner received weekly envelopes of cash in return; Castellanos received Hydrocodone, a powerful painkiller.

Carolyn Bell, Lynn Rosenthal and Antonia Barnes prosecuted the case for U.S. Attonrey R. Alexander Acosta.

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