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Baton Rouge Medicare Scam Lands Docs in Prison
A New Orleans doctor and the owner of a medical equipment company have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a Baton Rouge-area Medicare scam, the Grimy Times reports.
Dahlia V. Kirkpatrick, a medical doctor from New Orleans, and Emmanuel M. Komandu, the owner and operator of Alpha Medical Solutions Inc., a medical equipment company based in Baker, La., each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
According to plea documents, Kirkpatrick began working with Komandu in approximately January 2005. Komandu’s company, Alpha Medical Solutions Inc., specialized in providing power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories, and feeding nutrients to Medicare beneficiaries.
However, court documents revealed that from approximately January 2005 through February 2010, Komandu and Kirkpatrick submitted and caused the submission of approximately $775,019 in fraudulent claims to the Medicare program. The majority of these claims were based on prescriptions for medically unnecessary DME that were written and provided by Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick wrote prescriptions for medically unnecessary DME, such as power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories, and feeding nutrients. Medicare paid $302,811 to Alpha Medical Solutions Inc. based on these fraudulent claims.
U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Kirkpatrick to 48 months in prison and Komandu to 30 months in prison. Both defendants were also ordered to pay $302,811 in restitution jointly and severally with each other to the victim, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys O. Benton Curtis III and Sarah M. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office. The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana.
RELATED: Baton Rouge Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Wire Fraud Scam
RELATED: Baton Rouge Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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