Houston Medical Equipment Company Owner, Operator and Patient Recruiter Plead Guilty to Health Care
Published: 2010-07-20 19:54:45By: U.S. Department of Justice | May 1, 2010
Houston-area residents Doris Vinitski and John Lachman pleaded guilty today in connection with their roles in a durable medical equipment Medicare fraud scheme, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.
According to court documents, Vinitski, 45, was the owner of Onward
Medical Supply, a Houston-area durable medical equipment company.
Lachman, 45, operated the day-to-day business for several years, and
Vicki Phillips, 53, was a patient recruiter for Onward. Vinitski and
Lachman, who is Vinitski's estranged husband, each pleaded guilty today
before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Atlas of the Southern District of
Texas to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Phillips
pleaded guilty on April 21, 2010, to one count of conspiracy to defraud
the United States and to paying health care kickbacks.
Onward began billing Medicare for fraudulent durable medical
equipment in 2003, according to court documents. Vinitski and Lachman
admitted they paid kickbacks, sometimes $1,000 per patient, to
recruiters who brought patients to Onward. Lachman and Vinitski then
would bill Medicare for durable medical equipment that these patients
did not need or never received.
Phillips admitted that she recruited Medicare beneficiaries for the
purpose of allowing Onward to submit claims to Medicare for durable
medical equipment, including power wheelchairs and orthotic devices.
Phillips also admitted she received kickbacks from Onward for each
patient she recruited whose claims were reimbursed by Medicare.
Lachman and Phillips are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16, 2010.
Vinitski is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 17, 2010. Lachman and
Vinitski face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine. Phillips faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.
Seven additional defendants allegedly involved in the scheme - Dr.
Howard Grant, Clinton Lee, Michael Kalu Obasi, Darnell Willis, Ju-Ying
Cian, Obisike Nwankwo and John Nasky Okonkwo - are scheduled for trial
on May 17, 2010. The charges against these defendants are merely
allegations and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The guilty pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny
A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of
the Southern District of Texas; Richard C. Powers, Special
Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Houston office; Special Agent-in-Charge
Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of the HHS Office of Inspector
General (OIG), Office of Investigations; and Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott on behalf of the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud
Control Unit (MFCU).
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant Chief John S. (Jay) Darden and
Trial Attorneys Jennifer L. Saulino and O. Benton Curtis III of the
Criminal Division's Fraud Section. The cases were investigated by the
FBI, HHS-OIG and MFCU.
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force,
supervised by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of
Texas and the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. Since their inception
in March 2007, Strike Force operations in seven districts have obtained
indictments of more than 560 individuals who collectively have falsely
billed the Medicare program for more than $1.2 billion. In addition,
HHS's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction
with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and
decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement
Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Source:U.S. Department of Justice