Property Crimes

Published on: January 1, 2013

$11 Million Guilty Verdict in Major Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Case

Last Monday, Charles Agbu, a 58-year pastor based in Carson, pled guilty to an $11 million Los Angeles Medicare fraud scam.

The Department of Justice accused Agbu of masterminding the reimbursement fraud. Agbu faces the specter of a 20-year prison sentence on top of a fine of $500,000. He will be sentenced in May.

Agbu’s company, Bonfee Inc., marketed itself as a medical equipment supply business. In reality, Bonfee paid people to offer beneficiaries power wheelchairs in exchange for their Medicare information. Once Agbu and his crew had this info, they billed Medicare for the wheelchairs but never delivered them to clients. Bonfee and Agbu also falsified prescriptions and other documents to bill Medicare illegally. Agbu paid his co-conspirators, including Dr. Juan Tomas Van Putten, hundreds of dollars for batch orders of these fake prescriptions.

Published on: December 26, 2012

Los Angeles Lewd Conduct Charges Lead to Spate of Lawsuits against L.A. Unified

by Michael Kraut

Most Los Angeles lewd conduct charges, fortunately, are relatively “small scale.” They might involve one person committing an alleged sex crime against another or a few people.

However, there are times when certain crimes lead to a kind of “mass harm” and draw the attention of both community and the media. One of those cases involved some insane allegations against 61-year-old Mark Berndt, a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, who faces 23 counts of Los Angeles lewd conduct. He’s currently being held in jail on a bail of $23 million.

The allegations against Berndt are almost too hard to believe. Here is a direct quote from Reuters about what he faces: “He has been accused of spoon feeding his semen to blindfolded children as part of what he allegedly called a tasting game. He is also accused of putting cockroaches on children’s faces and feeding them semen tainted cookies at the school.”

Published on: December 24, 2012

Can New Antifraud Computer System Stop Medicare Fraud in Los Angeles and Beyond?

by Michael Kraut

The Federal Government, under the Obama administration, has made a huge push to crack down on Medicare fraud in Los Angeles and beyond.

We’ve covered many relevant stories over the past few years, citing probably dozens of examples of big time busts. We’ve also discussed some of the scary consequences for the perpetrators of these alleged offenses. The typical way the government goes after fraud is known as “pay and chase.” Investigators try to identify fraudulent payments from the system, track down the pilfered money, and then punish perpetrators and force restitution, if possible.

This way of preventing fraud is somewhat wasteful, and it is certainly very punitive.

Published on: December 19, 2012

Petty Thefts in Los Angeles Spike During Xmas. Santa (and the Police) Are Watching…

by Michael Kraut

Statistical analyses of petty theft in Los Angeles paint a pretty grim holiday picture.

According to the National Retail Federation, 95% of all retail stores (that’s 19 out of every 20 stores) falls victim to petty theft during the Yuletide season: that’s a spike of 30% over normal crime rates.

The diversity of petty theft schemes is literally too large to catalog. Some cases are relatively simple: A thief might snatch a purse left in a shopping cart unattended or take a “five finger discount” at a candy shop or convenience store. Some items are more prone to be stolen than others. Games, shoes and apparel tend to be big targets. Sometimes “odd ball” items can also be targeted. For instance, as we covered earlier this year, Tide detergent apparently is a commonly pilfered item. Thieves steal the Tide and then resell it on the black market.

Published on: December 17, 2012

Biggest Case of Medicare Fraud in the History of the World?

by Michael Kraut

Blockbuster charges face DaVita Inc., one of the largest dialysis companies in United States, including charges of Medicare fraud in Los Angeles and beyond.

DaVita is a $7 billion company that operates 2,000 dialysis clinics in the United States. The CEO alone receives $15 million annually, much of that paid for ultimately by taxpayers. The Denver-based company may have engaged in a massively complex, hugely scaled scam to steal money from Medicare and Medicaid. One of the whistleblowers, Dr. Alon Vainer of Georgia, said “We are talking in the hundreds of millions, easily …the profit this company made from those two [Medicare and Medicaid] schemes… was hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Dr. Vainer and a nurse, Daniel Barbir, allege that DaVita engaged in a massive fraud scheme from 2003 through 2010, leveraging tens of thousands of patients to fraudulently boost their revenue from the Federal Government’s programs.

Published on: December 12, 2012

Southland Attorney Hit with Lewd Conduct Charges — Arturo Gutierrez Allegedly Planned to Meet Under-Aged Girl at Seal Beach Pier

by Michael Kraut

Southland Attorney Arturo Fernando Shaw Gutierrez was arrested in a sting operation last Saturday and charged with arranging to meet a minor for lewd acts and intent to commit lewd acts at the Seal Beach Pier.

According to initial reports from the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force, the parents of an under-aged girl alerted authorities after they noticed that their daughter had been having strange and sexual conversations with an adult man via Facebook. Authorities used clues from the girl’s Facebook account to bust Gutierrez. The criminal defense attorney had been allegedly posing as a young girl online. CBS LA reported that “Gutierrez had been unaware [that] he had been communicating via Facebook with the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force since November.” Authorities believe that he might have also engaged in other online communiqués with young women, although he has not yet been charged with additional crimes. He was held at the Seal Beach jail on a $50,000 bail.

A press release reported that “a search warrant was served at Gutierrez’s home in Ventura County immediately following his arrest.”

Published on: December 10, 2012

Sex Crimes, Bankruptcy Fraud, Los Angeles Lewd Conduct and More: Not a Terrific Legacy for Former World Series Legend, Lenny Dykstra

by Michael Kraut

49-year old ex-professional baseball player, Lenny Dykstra, was sentenced last week to half a year in federal prison in conjunction with bankruptcy fraud charges. Dykstra, the ex-Met and Phillie who went by the nickname “Nails” and who helped the New York Mets cap off their Cinderella 1986 season with astonishing come-from-behind victories against the Astros and the Red Sox, has since seen his life go downhill in a catastrophic fashion.

In addition to bankruptcy fraud charges, he has also faced Los Angeles lewd conduct charges, grand theft auto charges, assault with a deadly weapon charges, and more. During his recent trial, he also confessed to providing misleading testimony regarding an L.A. home that he had bought from hockey great, Wayne Gretzky.

Back in April, his Los Angeles lewd conduct and assault charges netted him a 270-day jail sentence. Dykstra allegedly lured women to his home via Craigslist ads: he claim to be looking for an assistant/housekeeper. He then forced himself upon these women. One woman said that Dykstra held her at knifepoint and ordered her to massage him. In addition to his 500-hours of community service and six months in jail, he’ll also have to pay $200,000 in restitution re his bankruptcy fraud charges.

Published on: December 3, 2012

Proposition 36 Alert: Man Convicted of Los Angeles Petty Theft Released From Jail after 17 Years

by Michael Kraut

Nearly two decades ago, Sergio Ayala got convicted on charges of Los Angeles petty theft: he stole a leaf blower worth $150. Since the former heroin addict already had two criminal convictions “under his belt,” he found himself whalloped by California’s Three Strikes rule and landed a sentence of 25 years to life behind bars.

17 years passed.

Then came the November elections, and Mr. Ayala’s fortunes changed, thanks to the passage of Proposition 36, which amended the 1994 Three Strikes law and paved the way for Mr. Ayala’s release. The tweaks to Prop 36 were designed to help non-violent offenders exit the California prison system and save the state millions of dollars in tax revenues. Champions of the bill suggested that the Three Strikes law had been long overdue for a reworking, especially as it pertained to practice of “throwing the book” at non-violent third offenders, like Los Angeles petty theft defendants. Critics, however, worry that the changes to the law could lead to increased crime rates and more recidivist behavior.

Published on: November 26, 2012

Los Angeles Medicare Fraud – Cautionary Tale Out of NC Regarding Power Wheelchair Kickback Scheme

by Michael Kraut

As someone who was recently charged with Southern California Medicare fraud, you feel alone and isolated. Odds are that you did not participate in a nine-figure con game — the kind of crime you read about in the Los Angeles Times and other big papers.

You might have been making a living (and then some) from what you were doing. But your dental, medical, or chiropractic fraud was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

Nevertheless, you may still face charges that could land you in jail for years or decades, destroy your reputation professionally and personally, and create all sorts of incidental, indirect havoc in your life.

Published on: November 22, 2012

4 Curious Facts about Holiday Theft and Shoplifting in Los Angeles

by Michael Kraut

As the Yuletide season approaches, retailers are going to be on high alert for Los Angeles petty theft and similar crimes. If you’ve unfortunately recently been arrested for pilfering electronics or clothing — or participating in a larger scale Southern California grand theft crime syndicate — you may need to take decisive, strategic action to protect your freedom and minimize punishments. Here are five germane (and somewhat surprising) facts about Los Angeles petty theft to keep in mind as you research and structure your defense:

1. Petty theft and fraud cost American businesses over $35 billion every year – or approximately 1.4% of all total sales.

Unsurprisingly, the velocity and diversity of theft crimes in Los Angeles spikes during the holiday season.