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.
Documenting Psychiatrists Behaving Badly
Of all professions, psychiatrists seem to get into the most trouble. I have been collecting stories about psychiatric screwups for a while. Sadly, it has been disgustingly easy to do. We post stories with links to the original sources. We couldn't make this stuff up if we wanted to. My Name is Sickmind Fraud.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Five people plead guilty in health care scheme
As reported in the Miami Herald
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