A former owner of mental health facilities in Florida and North Carolina has been sentenced to 168 months in prison for his leadership role in a health care fraud scheme involving defunct health provider Health Care Solutions Network Inc. (HCSN).
Armando Gonzalez, 50, of Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida on December 17, 2012. In addition to his prison term, Gonzalez was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $28,092,283 in restitution.
The restitution will be satisfied in part by seized assets, including $987,000 in currency seized in July 2012 and Gonzalez’s mansion in Hendersonville, N.C.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on December 17, 2012.
According to court documents, HCSN operated community mental health centers at three locations in Miami-Dade County, Fla., and one location in Hendersonville. The company purported to provide partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to individuals suffering from mental illness.
Gonzalez orchestrated the HCSN fraud scheme, which centered on the recruitment and admission of patients who could not benefit from PHP services. In Miami, Gonzalez utilized patient recruiters to pay cash kickbacks in exchange for referrals from Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) patients who often suffered from conditions such as dementia and mental retardation.
Once the unqualified patients were admitted to HCSN, Gonzalez’s employees would fabricate virtually every portion of the patients’ mental health medical records. The fake medical records were then utilized to support false billings to government sponsored health care benefit programs and to avoid detection by Medicare auditors.
Related Federal Cases
- Ronald Lewis Hooper, Health Care Fraud, Virginia 2024 · North Carolina
- Jeffery Hall, Mail Fraud, Florida 2023 · Florida
- Robert Anton Woodring, Mail Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, Florida 2015 · Florida
- Domenico Dom Rabuffo, Mortgage Fraud Scheme, Florida 2023 · Florida
- Mae Rabuffo, Mortgage Fraud Scheme, Florida 2008 · Florida
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
US NewsUS NewsUS NewsUS News