NORTH CANTON, OH – Thomas G. O’Lear, 55, is facing a mountain of charges after allegedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid out of approximately $2 million. The scheme, perpetrated through his company Portable Radiology Services (PRS), wasn’t just about inflated bills – it allegedly included billing the government for X-rays performed on dead patients.
O’Lear, the president of PRS, which operated out of Canton, North Canton, Uniontown and Cleveland, is charged with 25 counts of health care fraud and one count of false statements relating to health care matters. PRS provided portable X-ray services to residents of nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facilities, according to the indictment. But the feds say a significant portion of those services were phantom procedures designed to line O’Lear’s pockets.
The indictment details a brazen pattern of fraud occurring between approximately January 2013 and December 2017. Prosecutors allege O’Lear billed Medicaid and Medicare for X-ray services that PRS never actually provided. The most shocking aspect? On roughly 151 occasions, O’Lear allegedly billed for X-rays administered after the patients had already passed away. That’s right – billing for services rendered to corpses.
But the alleged deception didn’t stop there. O’Lear is also accused of attempting to cover his tracks by forging the signatures of medical professionals. The goal was to create the false impression that PRS had, in fact, provided the services he was billing the government for, even when they hadn’t. It’s a level of audacity that even seasoned investigators find unsettling.
The investigation, a joint effort by the United States Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General, the FBI, and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, was led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brendan D. O’Shea and Mark S. Bennett, with Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan L. Metzler and Special Agent Jeremy Buening playing key roles. They’ve built a case that paints a picture of systematic and callous disregard for both the law and vulnerable patients.
An indictment is, of course, just an accusation. O’Lear is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. However, if convicted, his sentence will be determined by the court based on a variety of factors, including any prior criminal record and his role in the alleged scheme. The statutory maximum sentence hasn’t been specified, but the government will be pushing for a significant penalty for this alleged exploitation of the healthcare system.
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Key Facts
- State: Ohio
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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