Ask anyone in law enforcement how to end the problem of Long Beach DUI, and they will tell you that we need better enforcement, more measurement of the problem, better education and tools for law enforcement, drivers, road engineers and policymakers. These are good points. And if we did indeed…
A quiet but disturbing Los Angeles Medicare fraud case resolved last Monday, when 45-year-old Petros Odachyan was sentenced to 51 months in prison in a Los Angeles Federal Court pursuant to charges that his company, RL Medical Supply, defrauded Medicare out of $600,000 (after billing the program for more than…
After U.S. lawmakers pressured Apple, the tech company has banned an app called “Buzzed” which revealed the locations of Long Beach DUI checkpoints (and checkpoints elsewhere) that police had not previously publicized. Apple also changed its online store guidelines to come into compliance with this new policy: “Apps which contain…
Last Monday, Armen Kazarian, a “Vor” or “don” for the Armenian mafia, admitted in court that “I was involved in a criminal conspiracy,” including Southern California Medicare fraud. Last October, federal investigators busted up Kazarian’s ring of 118 “phantom” clinics that allegedly made off with over $35 million in funds.…
What makes a story about driving under the influence in Long Beach noteworthy? A quick search on Google news reveals that the most popular Burbank DUI, Pasadena DUI, Glendale DUI, and Los Angeles DUI stories involve celebrities, scary or grisly cases, or people doing stunt-like acts while DUI, such as…
Politicians, pundits and “everyday Americans” alike are striving to stamp out Southern California Medicare, Medi-Cal and Medicaid fraud – and for good reason. Consider Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown’s recent rant against fraud in the Medicare system: “The Government Accountability Office has estimated that nearly 10%, or $47 billion, of…
Last week, while most of the blogosphere zeroed in on the salacious accusations against International Monetary Fund’s chief, the news on the Southern California Medicare fraud front was not exactly silent. Indeed, a May 14th article in the Wall Street Journal (“Medicare Fraud Nets Guilty Plea”) has had a lot…
If you smoke medical marijuana and get behind the wheel – or drive under the influence of alcohol in Beverly Hills — you can be charged with a crime pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a). Indeed, it doesn’t matter if the marijuana you smoke is legal – even over-the-counter…
If you’ve recently been charged with a Southern California white collar crime, insurance fraud, credit card fraud, or any other non-violent offense, you might not immediately see any parallels between your situation and the war on terror. But the blogosphere was literally inflamed this past week with news about Osama…
As this blog has been reporting for months now, federal investigators have been really cracking down on crimes like Southern California Medicare and Medical fraud. A breaking story out of Miami highlights how much the government means “business.” According to an April 14th story in the Miami Herald, Lawrence Duran…