Punishment

Published on: March 4, 2013

Physician Collects $4 Million for Whistleblowing Medicare Fraud. Los Angeles Defendants, Take Note!

As a defendant (or soon-to-be defendant) in a Los Angeles Medicare fraud case, you’re deeply confused and concerned about how your situation will play out.

Maybe the government will overwhelm you with powerful evidence and testimonies. Or maybe surprising witnesses will come forward to “blow the whistle” on your activities.

Sometimes, blowing the whistle can pay off significantly. Consider a case out of Tampa, Florida, where a local physician, Dr. Alan Freedman, just collected $4 million for his part in blowing the whistle on an illicit kickback arrangement between Florida Pathology Laboratory and a dermatologist. The scheme apparently ran for over 15 years. Dr. Steven Wasserman, the dermatologist implicated, settled his case by paying over $26 million.

Published on: February 27, 2013

Analysis of Two Instructive Los Angeles Theft Cases

by Michael Kraut

If you stand accused of a charge like grand theft or petty theft in Los Angeles, pay attention to the following analysis of two recent news stories: their lessons could prove valuable as you construct your defense.

Our first case concerns 36-year-old Veronica Niko of Lancaster, who recently pled guilty to Los Angeles identity theft and tax fraud in federal court. The former L.A. County worker allegedly stole $357,000; she could face 15 years behind bars. The Internal Revenue Service accuses Niko of stealing the SSN numbers and names of 64 people while working for the City of Lancaster. She then used that information to submit false refund claims to the Internal Revenue Service. Niko conspired with her husband and three other people, two of whom have trials pending. Niko’s husband and one other person have pled guilty to the conspiracy charges, and both await sentencing.

This real life Los Angeles identity theft case comes at a relatively ironic time — just as Universal Pictures’ “Identity Theft” is hitting the theaters.

Published on: February 14, 2013

Political World Roiled, as Medicare Fraud Raid Targets Senator Menendez’s Close Friend

by Michael Kraut

A raid on the clinic of Dr. Salomon Melgen — the culmination of a long Medicare fraud investigation — has roiled the political world.

Dr. Melgen is a close friend of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who flew on the eye doctor’s private jet to the Dominican Republic on three separate occasions. Those acts earned Menendez a slap on the wrist from the Senate Ethics Committee. (Menendez responded by reimbursing the doctor $50,000 for the trips.)

A right wing website, The Daily Caller, has accused Menendez of having relationships with under-aged prostitutes during those trips to the Dominican Republic, allegations the senator strongly denies. According to a spokesperson for his office “all those allegations… of engaging in prostitution are absolutely false… Senator [Menendez] has known Melgen for years, and his travel on Melgen’s plane on three occasions has been reported and reimbursed required by the rules.”

Published on: February 12, 2013

At Least Your Los Angeles Petty Theft Charges Won’t Results in Your Public Execution (Hopefully!)

by Michael Kraut

As someone who was recently been arrested for petty theft in Los Angeles, you’re feeling pretty depressed and terrified. Will you go to jail? Will you be stuck with a criminal record? Will you get fired from your job or get expelled from school? And so forth.

These fears are all reasonable. If you take a less than strategic approach to your petty theft defense, pretty serious punishments can await you. Fortunately, however, you were arrested for petty theft in Southern California and not in Iran.

According to a recent news report, two men who robbed a man with a machete at a market were just publicly hanged for their crime in front of a huge crowd. An Iranian judge accused Alireza Mafiha and Mohammed Ali Sarvari of “waging a war against God” and sentenced them to hang in public. Amnesty International says that Iran executes more people, annually, than almost any country on Earth. Although capital punishment is legal in the Golden State, it’s usually reserved for extreme situations, i.e. for people who commit extremely violent crimes, such as murder. But it’s never, ever used to deal with a petty theft.

Published on: February 8, 2013

It’s Not That Your Los Angeles Petty Theft Arrest, Itself, Is the Problem, Necessarily…

by Michael Kraut

You were recently arrested for a petty theft crime in Los Angeles. Maybe you stole a bottle of laundry detergent or shoplifted a designer shirt on Melrose. Or maybe you just know someone who stands accused of such a crime.

In either case, you’re conflicted. You know you’re in trouble. You want your legal problems to go away ASAP. On the other hand, you didn’t kill anyone or commit a more serious Southern California white-collar crime or violent crime. So, hopefully, you’ll be able to dispatch with this frustrating chapter in your life and move on.

To get clarity about what this arrest means for you, you need to start asking yourself some tough questions.

Published on: February 4, 2013

Your Los Angeles Sex Crime Case Is Complex. But Everyone’s Already Painted You as the “Bad Guy” (Or “Bad Girl”)

by Michael Kraut

Los Angeles sex crime defendants often find themselves isolated, even from close family and friends, because of the salacious nature of the allegations.

Whether you stand accused of sending an untoward, sexually-provocative email to a high school student; or whether the police arrested you for soliciting an undercover officer at a bathroom, you’re genuinely scared for your future. Plus, you’re facing a real empathy deficit in your life right now.

It’s not that people close to you have abandoned you, necessarily. But sex crimes in Los Angeles (or anywhere) really touch a nerve with many people, and for good reason.

Published on: January 21, 2013

What Los Angeles Petty Theft Defendants Can Learn from Woman Who Wants to Eat Only Starbucks Food for an Entire Year

by Michael Kraut

As someone who was recently arrested for petty theft in Los Angeles, you want to avoid serious penalties, such as prison time, a criminal record, massive fees, and humiliation.

Whether you’re a starving UCLA student who helped himself to “free” convenience store food or a hardened recividist offender, you have some potent choices to make about your future.

• Will you retain a high caliber Los Angeles criminal defense attorney to represent your interests and structure an effective defense?

Published on: January 18, 2013

No Los Angeles Lewd Conduct Trial for Actor Fred Willard

by Michael Kraut

According to the Los Angeles Times, actor Fred Willard (whose credits include Anchorman, Best in Show, and This is Spinal Tap) will not go to trial for his Los Angeles lewd conduct charges.

If you recall from our reporting from last July, the 72-year-old Willard got arrested at the Tiki Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard, after police officers allegedly observed him “engaging in the lewd act.” Willard’s arrest reminded many in the media of the career-destroying lewd conduct arrest of Paul Reubens in a Florida movie theater over a decade earlier.

The LAPD unit that busted Willard and others aimed to crack down on sex crimes in and around Hollywood. The comedic actor recently completed a diversionary program that will keep him out of jail and finish this chapter in his life. He appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon after the arrest. He told Fallon that the arrest was “very embarrassing … it’s embarrassing as hell, but let me say this, nothing happened. I did nothing wrong.” Willard said that he didn’t realize the Tiki Theater was an adult theater. He told Fallon “I see this one, it had such a Polynesian exotic look to it. I said maybe there’s hula dancers in here. Maybe there’s Mai Tais. I went in and I realized I was the only one awake and sober and conscious.”

Published on: January 14, 2013

Nick Stahl Arrested On Hollywood Lewd Conduct Charges

by Michael Kraut

Nick Stahl, has been arrested for lewd conduct in Hollywood, according to news sources.

The 33-year-old actor, who starred in Terminator 3 and in the HBO series Carnivàle, got booked on the misdemeanor after undercover police found him “watching a movie” in an adult movie shop on Hollywood Boulevard. Stahl made headlines last year, after he went missing from his estranged wife multiple times and went in and out of rehab.

According to LAist, the actor allegedly had been “touching himself” before getting booked for lewd conduct. He emerged from police custody a few hours after the incident and told a TMZ cameraman that the whole thing was a “misunderstanding.” Stahl was actually arrested by one of the same police officers who caught actor Fred Willard at the Tiki Theater in November. As we reported in a recent post on Willard’s arrest, the Los Angeles Police Department has assembled a special crack team designed to find and arrest men for lewd conduct in Hollywood.

Published on: January 3, 2013

Getting Beyond Your Holiday Los Angeles Petty Theft Charges

by Michael Kraut

Perhaps you and your frat buddies at UCLA got arrested for petty theft in Los Angeles after a crazy off-campus Christmas party. Or maybe the cops caught you stealing small items from a mall to “re-gift” to friends and family members.

In any case, you now face a misdemeanor charge — as well as other criminal counts, if you mixed up your petty theft with assault, robbery, or misbehavior towards a police officer.

It’s a New Year. You’d like a fresh start. You’d love to refocus on how to move your life forward in a positive direction — to make good on your 2013 resolutions.