MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—01029084A DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License Valid to Practice While Reviewed
Southern Ind. OBGYN sentenced for Medicaid fraud
CORYDON, Ind. – A Southern Indiana OB-GYN once accused of sexually assaulting his patients avoids prison.
A Superior Court judge in Corydon accepted Dr. Paul Kelty’s plea of guilty to two charges, and sentenced him to four years of home incarceration.
Kelty left the courthouse not exactly a free man, but also not facing prison time.
Neither he nor his attorney Richard Mattox had much to say.
“It’s been a long haul,” said Mattox.
Kelty, once known as known as the “female specialist, "originally faced 22 charges including sexually assaulting his patients, and over-prescribing pain pills. But he struck a deal, pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud and corrupt business influence.
“What on the onset looks like a strong case, may look different towards the end of the case,” said Harrison Co. Prosecutor Otto Schalk.
Schalk says the deal was the best he could get, considering what he says were inconsistent statements from witnesses.
“When there’s inconsistent statements given at one period time, then later a contradictory statement, that caused certain counts to be dismissed,” he said.
Kelty also has health problems, including recent quadruple bypass surgery.
One alleged victim, who did not identify herself, told Judge Joseph Claypool in court that the sentence was unfair, and that Kelty will not be held accountable for his sexual abuse.
As part of his sentence, Kelty did lose his license to practice medicine.
WDRB News asked Schalk if he thought justice had been served.
“Absolutely. I think we have put a doctor out of practice. He’s now going to be on home incarceration for four years, probation for four years,” said Schalk.
Mattox said Kelty wants to get on with his life. It will be a life outside a prison cell.
Kelty must also pay more than $22,000 in restitution. He has already settled a civil suit for $700-thousand. (LINK) — 08/06/2015
Manhattan doctor accused of selling Xanax prescriptions and pills, which ended up on the street
A Manhattan doctor was busted Tuesday for allegedly selling 28 prescriptions for Xanax, pills that wound up hawked on the street.
Dr. Mengjia Zhao, 61, is accused of pushing $4.6 million worth of the anti-anxiety medication into the black market since 2011, according to Bridget Brennan, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor.
The alleged pill peddler was charged with 28 counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
“Preventing illegally obtained prescription pills from hitting the black market is critically important to protecting the public’s health and safety,” Brennan said. “Xanax used improperly can be fatal.”
Zhao pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court. He was held on $500,000 bond or $500,000 cash.
The probe started in 2011 after police heard that multiple drug dealers in Union Square who sold alprazolam, known as the brand name Xanax, got the pills from prescriptions written by Zhao.
During the investigation, undercover cops visited his medical practice at 109 Lafayette St. more than two dozen times. Zhao allegedly never conducted medical exams beyond checking their blood pressure before handing out the prescriptions.
He initially charged $100 cash for the first visit and $70 for subsequent visits. In 2014, the price went up to $80, prosecutors said.
The doctor also sold actual pills ranging from three to 100 tablets over five visits, violating regulations. Instead of writing overlapping prescriptions, which would be flagged by the New York State Department of Health’s Prescription Monitoring Program, Zhao instead sold the undercover officers 246 pills, investigators said.
All told, 48% of the prescriptions Zhao wrote between 2009 and 2015 were for 60 to 90 pills of alprazolam, according to a court authorized analysis conducted by prosecutors. That high rate for the anti-anxiety drugs was strange because Zhao is an internist rather than a psychiatrist, a field more likely to be prescribing that type of medication.
Authorities say Zhao ignored signs that patients were addicted to alprazolam and that some were selling the drug, which carries a street value of $5 per pill. He continued to write prescriptions even after the undercover officers told him they were also buying the drug from street dealers.
Alprazolam, a type of benzodiazepine, is typically used to help people suffering from depression. But heavy use of the medication, or others like it, with heroin or prescription opioid painkillers, can slow the heart rate and breathing to lethal levels.
The number of fatal drug overdoses in the city has spiked by 41% between 2010 and 2013, according the city Health Department. Benzodiazepines were discovered in 60% of overdose fatalities with opioid painkillers, 36% of deaths involving heroin, and 58% of deaths involving methadone in 2013, Brennan said. (LINK) — 07/28/2015
KIRKLAND NATUROPATH SUSPENDED FROM PRACTICING MEDICINE FOLLOWING CRIMINAL CHARGES
(OLYMPIA, WA.) – Naturopathic Doctor Mark Monwai, who runs a practice in Kirkland, Washington has been immediately suspended by state health officials after he was criminally charged with identity theft and filing fraudulent insurance claims, according to a statement released by the Wash. State Dept. of Health.
Dr. Monwai, a former chair of the Board of Naturopathy, allegedly submitted false claims to insurance companies seeking payment for providers who were not associated with his clinic or who had not treated the patients in question, according to the statement.
Charges state that the King County naturopath also failed to adequately supervise or allowed an employee to practice outside the scope of practice and interfered with a Department of Health investigation.
Monwai, who operates a clinic called the Cornerstone Family Health Clinic in Kirkland, WA pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court to two counts of fraudulent insurance claims.
“He cannot practice as a naturopath in Washington until these charges are resolved and has 20 days to request a hearing to contest the charges,” said the Health Dept. statement.
On a website for his clinic, Dr. Monwai is listed as one of five health care providers at the clinic aswell as the Clinical Director and founder of Cornerstone Family Health Clinic.
The website says “Before becoming a physician, Dr. Monwai spent over 10 years working in the health care field. During his time as a firefighter and as an emergency medical responder, he learned the value of health prevention and the selfless care of others.”
The Board of Naturopathy protects public health and safety and promotes the welfare of the state by regulating the competency and quality of health care providers under its authority. (LINK) — 07/23/2015
Physician indicted for illegally dispensing pain medication
A Columbia County physician was recently indicted after he was charged in March with not being properly licensed to dispense pain medication from his Martinez clinic.
A Columbia County Grand Jury indicted Imo Ndem, 55, on a charge of operating an unlicensed pain management clinic, according to the indictment released Friday. Ndem, of Darwood Drive in Grovetown, ran the Pathway to Wellness Center on Old Petersburg Road.
He was arrested March 17 at his office for a violation of the Georgia Pain management Act. The law, enacted in 2013, was designed to curtail the existence of “pill mills” or pain clinics that dispense prescription painkillers indiscriminately.
A license is required as a pain management clinic if “50 percent or more of the annual patient population was treated for chronic pain for non-terminal conditions by the use of Schedule II or II Controlled Substances,” and Ndem is accused of operating under those circumstances without a license from Sept. 27, 2013, through Oct. 29, 2014, according to the indictment.
His practice had been under investigation for more than a year and authorities served search warrants on his clinic in October.
Ndem is being held in the Columbia County Detention Center on a $10,100 bond, according to jail records. (LINK) — 07/21/2015
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—6301008753 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 11/25/2015
Detroit man scams elderly LA woman of all her money
Los Angeles police seek 59-year-old Carlson Alyn Jackson of Detroit
The victim is 92-year-old Mable Miles, who has lived in Los Angeles for many years.
Los Angeles police say 59-year-old Carlson Alyn Jackson, of Detroit, took every last dime of her money before disappearing. Miles’ niece, Carol White, got the call that her aunt had no food or money, and needed help.
“The way he took her property and put it in the bank, somehow transferred it out, she was left literally broke,” said White.
What she and her family couldn’t figure out is why she was broke. She owned an 8-unit apartment in Los Angeles valued at nearly $1 million with an income stream she used to fund her meager lifestyle. Los Angeles police say Jackson convinced Miles to sell him the property for $250,000, and then give him access to her bank accounts.
Jackson wasn’t home when Local 4 set out to contact him on Wednesday. He hung up when Local 4 contacted him by phone.
Wayne County property records show he owns a couple dozen properties around Detroit. Mable Miles’ family lives near several of the properties. Her nephew Stanford Meeks was furious when he spoke to Local 4.
“Mad as hell, I’m telling ya. Y’all better catch him before I do!” he said.
Los Angeles police say he is wanted for fraud and elder abuse. (LINK) — 06/03/2015
Detroit doctor arrested in L.A., charged with financial elder abuse
Los Angeles police have arrested a Detroit doctor for allegedly stealing from a 92-year-old woman.
Maybel Miles, 92, of Los Angeles, helped put the doctor through college and showed him endless other kindness only to wind up broke after allowing the man to live with her in L.A.
Dr. Carlson Alyn Jackson, 60, of Detroit, is behind bars held on a million-dollar bond and charged with three counts of financial elder abuse.
In June, Miles’ family found her inexplicably penniless, considering she owned a million-dollar apartment complex in Los Angeles and lived off of the rent.
The Los Angeles Police Department claims Jackson convinced the elderly woman to sign the building over to him illegally.
Family said Jackson was telling tenants in the building to start paying him the rent because he owned the building.
Jackson regularly summered in Los Angeles with Miles the last few years and lived here in Detroit the rest of the year.
“I hope they catch you and put you in jail,” said Miles.
After Jackson lived here in Detroit over the summer, police picked him up Wednesday night at Los Angeles International Airport on a fugitive warrant.
An extensive investigation was conducted by a special prosecutor in the commercial crimes division in Los Angeles. Detectives were waiting for Jackson at LAX when he got off of the plane.
Miles is suing Jackson to get the apartment complex back. (LINK) — 09/11/2015
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—G 84568 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 11/25/2015
Doctor guilty of stalking husband
A local doctor has been found guilty of stalking and scaring her husband who she had suspected of infidelity by leaving rats and a snake in his bedroom, among other behavior, Monterey County District Attorney Dean D. Flippo announced.
Salinas resident Mary Kay Brewster, 58, sent her husband thousands of harassing and profane text messages, vandalized his car, poisoned his plants, and even released a ball python in her husband’s home at one point because he has a snake phobia.
Dr. Brewster, a local obstetrician and gynecologist, was convicted of two counts of felony stalking, one count of felony vandalism and one count of trespassing after a trial that spanned two weeks.
Dr. Brewster separated from her husband amid allegations of infidelity, and she then began a pattern of harassment. It included going to his workplace and destroying property, sending text messages, calling his cellphone repeatedly throughout the night and defacing his mail with obscene writing.
She also repeatedly threatened to tell his children and mother “vile stories about him,” according to the DA’s office.
The stalking culminated when Brewster broke into her husband’s home while he was away on a trip. She went in through a window to his bedroom and released three rats purchased at a Salinas pet store along with food for them.
She also released a 3- to 4-foot long ball python into the room. She hoped he would return home to find the snake and rat remains.
Dr. Brewster’s scheme was interrupted when a woman who was watering the plants for the victim spotted the rats living in his bed and called the authorities.
While the deputy was collecting the rats the woman noticed the snake hanging from the shutters in the victim’s bedroom, screamed and fled the residence, according to the DA’s office.
The victim was traumatized after learning of the snake being found in his bedroom and did not stay in his home for over a week after having the home searched for other things possibly left by the defendant.
Dr. Brewster also stalked a woman she accused of having an affair with her husband, a nurse who worked in the same hospital as she.
Dr. Brewster accused her of being a “skank” in front of patients and at one point, went to the woman’s home and shouted at her, “Slut, you’re going to die,” according to the DA’s office.
She also left anonymous notes on the woman’s locker, flicked bodily fluids on the victim in the operating room and created a difficult working environment.
After Monterey police became involved, the defendant stopped her harassment for several months.
The victim then began noticing her plants dying as if they were being poisoned, and her mail box was vandalized with acid.
Items were also stolen, and the victim installed video cameras as she suspected Dr. Brewster of causing the problems.
Dr. Brewster was caught on video coming to the victim’s home at 4:30 a.m., carrying plant poison, crawling under the victim’s car and trying to open the gas cap of the woman’s car.
A search warrant of the defendant’s home turned up several bottles of plant poison, a bag of sugar was found in her trunk, and a journal detailing the defendant’s obsessive preoccupation and hatred of both victim’s was discovered.
The case was initially investigated by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Monterey Police. Follow up investigation was led by District Attorney Investigator Christina Gunter.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13. (LINK)—11/23/2015
Monterey doctor sentenced for stalking with python
A well-known Monterey gynecologist was sentenced Wednesday for terrorizing her estranged husband with a python because he was dating another woman and had a phobia of snakes.
A well-known Monterey gynecologist was sentenced for terrorizing her estranged husband with a python because he was dating another woman and had a phobia of snakes.
Mary Kay Brewster was sentenced by judge Mark Hood in a Salinas courtroom to serve three years felony probation, 150 days of home confinement, and pay restitution to the SPCA for Monterey County.
Brewster, 58, of Salinas, was convicted of felony stalking, felony vandalism, and misdemeanor trespassing. She held her head in her hands as the judge read the sentence.
Brewster was a popular doctor at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
Prosecutor Steve Somers said when the doctor’s marriage fell apart due to allegations of infidelity, Brewster began stalking her husband and his new girlfriend. She sent thousands of harassing, profane text messages to him, and called his cellphone repeatedly throughout the night, Somers said.
She vandalized his car, poisoned plants in his garden, physically assaulted him, and threatened to tell his children “vile stories about him,” prosecutors said.
She also stalked the new girlfriend, who worked as a nurse at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
“(Brewster) accused her of being a ‘skank’ in front of patients,” Somers said. “The defendant went to the victim’s house and shouted at her, ‘Slut, you’re going to die.’”
The doctor kept a diary detailing her feelings.
“A search warrant of the defendant’s home turned up a journal detailing the defendant’s obsessive preoccupation and hatred of both victims,” Somers said.
Brewster’s revengeful actions against her estranged husband culminated when she went to a Salinas pet store and bought three rats, along with a four-foot-long ball python, prosecutors said.
She then broke into her husband’s house while he was away on vacation and released the rats and snake into his bedroom. She left rat food for the rats.
Before he returned from vacation, the husband’s new girlfriend spotted the rats living in his bed, and a python slithering along the bedroom’s shutters.
“She screamed and fled the residence,” Somers said.
“(The husband) was traumatized after learning of the snake being found in his bedroom,” Somers said.
He did not return home for a week, and had his house searched for other possible animals planted inside.
The snake was sent to the SPCA for Monterey County, where employees said it grew 1-foot in just a few weeks.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, Brewster said some of the accusations against her were untrue.
A decision on whether Brewster will be allowed to continue practicing medicine has not yet been made by The Medical Board of California. (LINK) — 01/13/16
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—G 46242 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License Renewed & Current; Malpractice Judgment; no other current actions listed as of 1/12/2019
LA Superior Court Judgment $31,502.49—09/16/2010
Southern California Fertility Clinic Charged With Fraud
LOS ANGELES – A Chatsworth couple is suing a Southern California fertility clinic, with offices in Torrance, Irvine, Glendale, Corona, Glendora, and Rancho Mirage, and its doctors for recommending and carrying out the in-vitro fertilization process in spite of the doctors knowing that there was absolutely no hope of IVF resulting in a successful pregnancy.
Adel Said and Abeer Said vs. Pacific Reproductive Center, Rifaat Salem, M.D., Phillip Wethman, M.D., Manish Mehta, M.D., Zhihong Yang, M.D., and Pacific Coast Surgery Center (Case #PC040905) was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and will be heard by the Hon. Melvin D. Sandvig.
Mr. Said had been diagnosed nine years earlier with germinal cell aplasia due to a medical condition, making his ability to naturally father a child impossible because of a lack of the type of sperm cells needed to fertilize an egg. However, the nationally recognized Los Angeles urologist and male fertility expert they saw, Dr. Cappy Rothmann told them not to give up hope for the future because strides in treating fertility were being made constantly.
Upon seeing an advertisement for Pacific Reproductive Center in an Arab-language newspaper, the Saids decided to consult with the center’s founder and so-called fertility expert Dr. Rifaat Salem. They brought their medical records with them.
“We believe Dr. Salem and the other doctors at Pacific Reproductive Center preyed on Mr. and Mrs. Said’s yearning for a baby, knowing full well that a pregnancy was impossible due to Mr. Said’s condition,” says Los Angeles plaintiff attorney Bill Newkirk of the Law Offices of William H. Newkirk. “In my opinion, this is unconscionable fraud, preying on these people’s dreams for a family in order to extract thousands of dollars from them.”
Dr. Salem told the Saids there was a realistic chance, with the very sophisticated techniques he used, that in-vitro fertilization would produce a pregnancy for the Saids. He claimed to have an extremely high success rate in producing successful pregnancies in people in the same situation as the Saids.
With Dr. Salem’s affirmations in their ears, the couple underwent extremely painful and expensive procedures. Dr. Salem harvested eggs from Mrs. Said. A urologist then used a hypodermic needle to extract “viable” sperm from Mr. Said’s testicles.
Next, Dr. Salem and Dr. Yang, a Chinese embryologist with only a Canadian veterinarian license, claimed they had been successful in fertilizing a large number of eggs with “round spermatids” from Mr. Said. The two doctors showed the overjoyed couple photographs of what they claimed were embryos (fertilized eggs), before surgically implanting them in Mrs. Said. No pregnancy occurred.
More than a year later the Saids were contacted by a Pacific Reproductive Center nurse who told them that an expert was coming from Egypt and would be working with the center. She asked if they wanted to try again. With assurances of the expertise of this specialist, the Saids underwent all the same painful procedures they’d gone through before, again paying almost $10,000. The process was repeated with the same results.
Five years later the Saids consulted another fertility expert, Dr. Paul J. Turek of the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, who performed extensive attempts to harvest sperm cells from 28 sites on Mr. Said’s testicles. Dr. Turek informed Mr. Said that he had no sperm and that it was highly unlikely that the procedures he’d undergone at Pacific Reproductive Center had ever resulted in viable embryos or that any round spermatids had ever been extracted.
“Dr. Turek not only revealed Dr. Salem’s alleged fraud to Mr. and Mrs. Said,” says Newkirk, “But he also told them that the high success rate Dr. Salem had claimed was entirely incompatible with the findings of every other researcher who has studied the use of round spermatids to fertilize an egg.”
Newkirk continues, “Preying on the hopes and dreams for people desperate for children is almost criminal. Like many couples who are childless, my clients put their complete faith in these medical charlatans, whose only objective was to extract financial gain from the Saids’ profound personal pain.” (LINK) — 10/09/2009
Couple sue fertility doctor for ‘implanting mother with strangers’ embryos and then performing an abortion without consent when he realized his mistake’
A married couple’s quest to add another child to their family took a traumatic turn, and they say it’s all due to the disturbing actions of their fertility doctor.
David and Melissa Pineda are currently in the middle of a malpractice lawsuit against Torrance, California fertility doctor Dr Rifaat Salem, who they say implanted them with a strangers’ embryos and then subsequently carried out an abortion without their consent to prevent the possible mix-up pregnancy.
‘We went there to have a baby, not to kill a baby,’ Mrs Pineda told KTLA.
The parents say they went to Salem in December 2013, after struggling to conceive a fourth child, and two months later Mrs Pineda was implanted with a set of embryos.
But just two days after the procedure, while Mrs Pineda was on ordered bed rest, she says she got a call from the doctor telling her to come into the office immediately - even though it was a Sunday.
When she got to the practice, Mrs Pineda says she had a disturbing conversation with a nurse who said she came in to check on the couple’s remaining embryos on Saturday and found that all 14 original eggs were still in the petri dish - suggest that they had in fact been implanted with another person’s embryos.
Without any explanation, Dr Salem said he wanted to check in on how the embryos were doing. But Mrs Pineda believes she actually underwent a very painful dilation and curettage procedure - a scraping of the cervix which is the most common method used in first term abortions.
Mrs Pineda was told to come in the next day to receive an injection of a drug that would stop some of her bleeding, but she later found out that what she really received was the drug methotrexate - a chemical abortion drug.
When they later realized what had happened, the Pinedas hired malpractice lawyer Neil Howard to represent them in a lawsuit against Dr Salem.
Howard says Dr Salem broke the law since he did not get the Pinedas’ consent for either abortion procedure. In a sworn deposition, one of the doctor’s nurses says Mrs Pineda didn’t sign off on the D&C until after it was performed.
‘There’s no question in my mind that this was a viable healthy pregnancy that he wanted to make sure did not continue. That’s why he did two things: a chemical abortion and a surgical abortion. He wanted to be 1billion per cent sure this baby did not go to full term,’ Howard said.
The couple say they never would have agreed to an abortion and beleive that the couple whose embryos they received should know the truth about what happened.
‘What if we did have a viable baby that was going to be born we should have a little kid running around now because of what he did,’ Mr Pineda said. ‘That’s the hard part and what will never be replaced - the moments and the happiness with this child that we wanted and it’s not there now.’
Daily Mail Online’s to Dr Salem’s practice were not immediately returned Tuesday morning. (LINK) — 11/24/2015
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—MD035027Y DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License Suspended
Jay J. Cho, license nos. MD035027Y and MK001003, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, was temporarily suspended, pending a hearing, on the grounds that his continued practice within the
Commonwealth may be an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety. (02/12/15)
Doctor arrested for sexually assaulting 12 female patients
A medical doctor with offices in Cumberland and Franklin counties has been arrested on charges he over-prescribed powerful painkillers to 12 female patients and used their drug addictions to sexually assault them.
Jay J. Cho, 71, of Hampden Township, was charged Tuesday with counts including rape, aggravated indecent assault, drug delivery by a practitioner, and criminal use of a communication facility, according to Upper Allen Township police and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.
Cho allegedly peddled strong narcotics such as Oxycodone to the women in amounts that far exceeded the established standards of care, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, the women were afraid Cho would refuse to see them, or would cut off the drugs to which they had become addicted, if they rejected his sexual advances.
Three of the women said Cho assaulted them when he knew they were under extreme emotional stress from their personal lives.
“Instead of a doctor helping or treating people with addictions, Dr. Cho was creating addicts and/or taking advantage of people with addictions for his own personal and perverted desires,” Upper Allen Police Chief James Adams said.
The complaint further states that Cho met with the women at his offices in Hampden Township and Chambersburg while no staff members were in the room, and repeatedly contacted the patients outside of the times for their visits.
Authorities said none of the victims knew each other.
Cho’s bail was set $375,000. A preliminary hearing was scheduled Feb. 20.
Anyone with information concerning the case should call Upper Allen Township police at 717-850-8273. (LINK) — 02/11/2015
Doctor arrested for sexually assaulting 12 female patients
A Cumberland County doctor accused of drugging and sexually assaulting his patients has died.
Jay Cho, 71, of Hampden Township died died on Nov. 9 from clogged arteries, according to the coroner’s office.
He was ordered to trial on allegations he over-prescribed powerful painkillers to at least 10 female patients and then used their drug addictions to sexually assault them.
He was expected in court next week on charges including rape, aggravated indecent assault, drug delivery by a practitioner, and criminal use of a communication facility. (LINK) — 11/24/2015
Jahani MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—DR.0038632 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS— License Surrendered 7/11/2013
Peper MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—DR.0040436 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Stipulation on License
Two former Western Slope doctors indicted in deaths of four patients
Two former Western Slope doctors could face life in prison after a federal grand jury indicted them on charges of committing health care fraud and dispensing painkillers that resulted in the deaths of four patients.
On Tuesday, Dr. Sam Jahani, 49, was arrested by federal agents in Texas, where he had recently been living. Authorities are still looking for Dr. Eric Peper, 53, who resides in Summerland Key, Fla.
The indictment alleges Jahani and Peper defrauded Medicaid, Medicare and Rocky Mountain Health Plans by prescribing painkillers to patients outside the scope of professional practice and billing those services to those health care benefit programs.
Jahani and Peper prescribed powerful painkillers such as Oxycontin in doses they knew would endanger the lives of patients or cause fatal overdoses, the indictment says.
“Jahani billed and caused his business to bill for services not rendered, including for services claimed to have been provided to patients after the patients’ deaths,” the indictment says.
The government estimated the doctors made $3.22 million in fraudulent claims from 2006 to 2010.
Jahani operated three clinics under the name Urgent Care Inc. in Delta, Montrose and Grand Junction. Peper was Jahani’s employee at the clinics in Delta and Grand Junction.
The doctors’ cases will be heard in Colorado. (Excerpt) (LINK) — 08/10/2011
Peper takes plea deal
DENVER, Colo. Eric Peper - one of two former Western Colorado doctors indicted on drug, fraud, and patient death allegations - pleaded guilty to conspiracy Wednesday.
Peper pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States with respect of controlled substances, healthcare fraud, and/or money laundering.
Court documents released Thursday say Peper now faces between two and four years in prison as well as up to three years of parole with fines and restitution.
Wednesday’s plea stems from his role in what the government characterized as a systematic scheme to defraud health care benefit programs and dispense drugs without medical need.
Peper and his associate Sam Jahani were indicted in 2011. The Montrose Daily Press reports Jahani pleaded not guilty and has a trial set for 2016.
As a part of the plea, Peper admits to working with at least one other person to violate the law, and that at least one member of the conspiracy performed at least one overt act to further the conspiracy - knowing the conspiracy’s objective and being a willing participant.
Sentencing is set for December in Denver. If Peper cooperates fully, the USAO won’t seek an aggravated sentence. (LINK) — 07/31/2015
Second Doctor Pleads Guilty In Colorado Painkiller Case
MONTROSE, Colo. — A former Western Slope doctor has made a plea deal with prosecutors over charges that he and another physician overprescribed painkillers to patients, four of whom died of overdoses.
Sam Jahani pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to violate controlled substances laws, health care fraud and money laundering. In return, prosecutors dropped dozens of other charges that included unlawful dispensing of a controlled substance.
Prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of two years and forfeiture of $3.2 million from Jahani and the other doctor, Eric Peper.
Peper previously pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors.
Jahani is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8.
Jahani and Peper ran Urgent Care clinics in Delta, Montrose and Grand Junction. The clinics were shut down after federal raids in 2009. (LINK) — 11/07/2015
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—ME70401 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—complaint filed for sexual assault; no actions listed as of 11/24/2015
Ocoee doctor arrested for groping patient
An Orange County doctor is accused of inappropriately touching an elderly woman he was supposed to be taking care of.
Investigators were patient and deliberate during their nine-month investigation, even DNA testing the accuser’s clothing.
We also learned Dr. Elpidio Abreu has privileges to work inside at least one major area hospital.
Investigators said the alleged molestation began “by kissing her on her mouth” in May 2014 inside the Nephrology Associates of Central Florida office on Boren Drive in Ocoee.
The woman said she was “scared, embarrassed and stunned,” and that Dr. Abreu took advantage of her at his office by groping her and touching her inappropriately.
She said, “Dr. Abreu does not physically examine (her)” during checkups and he had no reason to touch her because "he reads her kidney function levels to her from his computer.”
Investigators DNA tested her clothing and took samples from the doctor.
The report is back, showing a “partial foreign DNA profile” was found on the woman’s clothing, including her underwear, matching Dr. Abreu’s DNA profile.
In fact, the odds of it being anyone else are astronomical, to the tune of 1 in 4.4 sextillion.
The 55-year-old man turned himself in on an arrest warrant on a second-degree felony charge of molesting an elderly woman.
According to the Florida Department of Health, Dr. Abreu has working privileges at Florida Hospital and Orlando Health.
However, Florida Hospital said they weren’t able to check his employment status as of Friday night.
A spokesperson with Orlando Health released the following brief statement regarding Dr. Abreu:
“Appropriate actions will be taken once the investigation has been concluded.“
Abreu’s bond was set at $25,000. He bonded out of the Orange County Jail on Friday. We stopped by Dr. Abreu’s office and his home. We were not able to reach him for comment. (LINK) — 02/27/2015
Charges against Ocoee doctor accused of molesting 77-year-old dropped
A 77-year-old woman said a trip to the doctor ended with him kissing and molesting her. Channel 9 has learned that charges against the doctor have been dropped.
The woman told Channel 9’s Jeff Deal that she is still traumatized by what she said happened to her last year.
Deal learned that the case against Dr. Elpidio Abreu, an Ocoee physician, was supposed to go to trial this month, but prosecutors were concerned about how strong a witness the victim might be.
Police officials told Deal that defense attorneys were able to cast doubt on the DNA evidence.
"I didn’t know what to do. I was scared to make noise,” the woman said.
The woman said Abreu kissed her and then put his hands down her pants and molested her.
“I was in shock. Something like that never happened to me ever, not even in my teenage years,” the woman said.
Abreu was arrested in February after Ocoee police said tests revealed his DNA was found inside her pants and underwear, even though he was just supposed to read her test results from a computer.
The State Attorney’s Office dismissed the case Monday.
Prosecutors sent Deal handwritten case notes that cited the woman’s recantations and “contamination of the DNA evidence by being stored together.”
The woman told Deal that she did not recant what she had said, but that when she was hospitalized for another injury couldn’t recall the incident temporarily.
“I am not lying about this case and that’s what upsets me,” the woman said. “That it looks like I’m making something up.”
She said prosecutors told her the two pieces of clothing tested for DNA were stored together and that would have contaminated the evidence to be used against Abreu.
“I think he should go to jail and lose his license. That’s what I think,” the woman said.
The Florida Surgeon General is recommending Abreu be punished. He is still practicing medicine. (LINK) — 11/11/2015
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