Punishment

Published on: June 10, 2013

Los Angeles Lewd Conduct Charges for LAPD Officer

Last Saturday, a 6 year veteran of the LAPD, Miguel Angel Schiappapietra, was arrested on charges of Los Angeles lewd conduct near Castaic.

Police say Schiappapietra lured two neighborhood girls to his home and sexually assaulted them. He had been patrolling the Foothill area prior to the arrest. At the initial hearing, Schiappapietra pled not guilty to Los Angeles lewd conduct felony charges. The prosecution doubled his bail to $200,000.

Pending the criminal case as well as an internal police investigation, Schiappapietra was put on paid administrative leave. The Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit is handling the case.

Published on: June 3, 2013

New Obama Administration “Senior Reward” Program Could Lead to Many New Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Cases

by Michael Kraut

On April 24, 2013, the Obama Administration announced a spectacular new “Senior Reward” program, which could spur many new additional Southern California Medicare fraud cases.

The so-called Senior Medicare Patrol would offer whistleblowers up to $10 million for exposing fraud. The whistleblower would get 15% of the recovered funds. This is a huge change to the current HHS model, which offers a 10% reward of up to $1,000. The revised program is modeled after an IRS program, which has helped that agency collect nearly $2 billion in fraud over the past 10 years.

Since 1997, the Senior Medicare Patrol has generated 7,000 plus referrals to the Office of the Inspector General and the CMS. In just the last three years alone, the Obama Administration has cracked down hard and managed to re-collect nearly $15 billion stolen from Medicare’s coffers. Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, stated the President’s intentions in clear language: “President Obama has made the elimination of fraud, waste and abuse, particularly in healthcare, a top priority for the administration.”

Published on: May 18, 2013

Arrested for Los Angeles Medicare Fraud? Five Things NOT to Do!

by Michael Kraut

Maybe you concocted a sophisticated Los Angeles Medicare fraud scheme that raided the Federal Government’s coffers to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. Or maybe you’re being investigated for failing to meet a Byzantine health care requirement.

Before taking action, read this list of five “don’ts,” so you can avoid making further mistakes that could imperil your case and lead to unnecessarily long jail sentences, the stripping of your professional license, humiliation, massive fines, and worse.

5 “Don’ts”

Published on: May 13, 2013

Lewd Conduct in Los Angeles Charges? 4 Actions Can Torpedo Your Case…

by Michael Kraut

If you’ve recently been investigated or arrested for lewd conduct in Los Angeles, you’re likely feeling terrified, overwhelmed, and isolated.

In this fraught state, odds are high that you will make one of the following 4 errors that could make your situation much more painful, legally complicated, and generally annoying. Read this article to “inoculate” yourself from these mistakes.

Mistake #1. Taking no action.

Published on: May 11, 2013

Epic Case of Medicare Fraud – Scooter Store May Have Overbilled Medicare and Medicaid by Nearly $90 Million!

by Michael Kraut

Many Los Angeles Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases end in disaster for all stakeholders. For a tragic “rags to riches to rags” story, take a look at the disaster that befell the Scooter Store.

If you’ve ever watched daytime TV, you’ve no doubt seen commercials for the Scooter Store. The vendor of power wheelchairs (based in New Braunfels, Texas) sold its products to consumers by pummeling the airwaves with advertisements. But a blockbuster CBS News investigative piece about the company led to a federal government investigation and ultimately an FBI raid. Doctors and salespeople alleged that the company followed a diabolical playbook. Salespeople would contact doctors’ offices and badger physicians to prescribe power wheelchairs and scooters to patients, even if patients did not need the products. They then relied on Medicare and Medicaid errors and bureaucratic snafus to approve the bad claims.

After the FBI raid, the company furloughed every employee and then laid off 1,000 workers.

Published on: May 8, 2013

The Jodi Arias’ Saga: Los Angeles Crime Story of the Century?

by Michael Kraut

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (and if so, lucky you), you’ve been bombarded by breaking news in the Jodi Arais trial. The verdict is in: the woman who killed her boyfriend in 2008 after a day of sex — shooting him in the face, stabbing him 27 times, and finally slitting his throat from ear to ear — was found guilty by an Arizona jury of first degree murder.

It’s a case that’s fascinated tabloid-obsessed housewives and hardened Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys alike. And Ms. Arias now faces life behind bars… and possibly even the death penalty.

A Wild Affair

Published on: May 8, 2013

Three Years in Prison for $3 Million Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Case

by Michael Kraut

A 50-year-old Calabasas man, Dr. Pezhman Ebrahimzadeh, was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars for falsely billing Medicare for over $3 million.

As penance for perpetrating healthcare fraud in Los Angeles, Dr. Ebrahimzadeh has been ordered to pay over $3 million in restitution, for his part in billing Medicare for medical services that he never performed. In many cases, these services involved patients who were no longer alive. Ebrahimzadeh – also known as Pez Abrahams – owns a cosmetic clinic called the Winnetka Medical Group, which provides liposuction and radiofrequency laser treatments.

Federal prosecutors say he collected information from beneficiaries to bill Medicare for never-performed procedures. He also collected information from 25 Medicare patients who were dead when they supposedly “got treated,” and then he changed medical records to conceal the Los Angeles Medicare fraud. He claimed he performed a bunch of pricey procedures, including radiotherapy catheter placement, bone tumor ablation, and revascularization, even though he lacked the equipment to do these procedures.

Published on: May 6, 2013

Los Angeles Petty Theft News: Elderly Woman’s Theft Trial Costs Nearly 30 Times the Value of the Object She Stole

by Michael Kraut

The courts have financial incentive to avoid dealing with trivial Los Angeles petty theft cases.

Here’s a bold illustration why.

Up in Monterey, 75-year-old Lilia Estoesta just got convicted of a single petty theft charge for stealing $60 worth of jewelry. The cost of the trial – just for the translator! – exceeded $2,000.

Published on: May 1, 2013

Update on Disturbing Lewd Conduct Case. Idaho Woman Performed Sex Acts on 15-Year-Old Boy…

by Michael Kraut

Our Los Angeles lewd conduct blog recently reported on the tragic but compelling story of 34-year-old Courtney Sue Reschke, who was arrested back in December 2012 for performing sexual acts with a 15-year-old boy.

The Idaho woman just pled guilty to six counts of lewd conduct – she was originally charged with 11 felony lewd conduct counts as well as misdemeanor charges for offering alcohol to underage minors.

Per court documents, Reschke offered a bunch of high school students alcohol and then engaged in sexual conduct with them. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped five felony counts, but the remaining six counts each carries a life in prison sentence as a max charge.

Published on: April 25, 2013

Convicted of Los Angeles Medicare Fraud, 37-year-old Tigran Aklyan May Face 10 Years Behind Bars…

by Michael Kraut

Thirty-seven-year-old Tigran Aklyan recently pled guilty to Los Angeles Medicare fraud charges, say officials.

Aklyan, the ex-owner of a San Gabriel medical equipment company, admitted that he conspired to defraud Medicare. He faces a maximum fine of $250,000 on top of a decade behind bars.

Aklyan owned Las Tunas Medical Equipment Inc., a company that sold medical equipment and power wheelchairs. From fall 2007 through spring 2009, Aklyan submitted false claims to Medicare for equipment and unneeded wheelchairs. He submitted over $910,000 in false claims and recouped over $650,000 from Medicare.