Punishment

Published on: June 25, 2012

Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Alert – The Government Spent $250 Million on Penis Pumps. Wow.

If you’ve been investigated arrested for a crime like Southern California Medicare fraud or Medi-Cal fraud, you likely feel under the gun. Prosecutors, “independent” observers and even friends and family members may judge you for damaging our social safety net.

Whether you committed a serious crime or not – or a series of crimes, including Southern California insurance fraud, Los Angeles identity theft, or other Los Angeles white collar crimes – you might find it helpful to put your situation in perspective.

Consider, for instance, a new report by the Heartland Institute, which found that the federal government spent over $250 million on penis pumps over the past 10 years!

Published on: June 20, 2012

Unraveling Your Own Los Angeles Medical Fraud Situation

by Michael Kraut

Perhaps you or your husband recently got arrested for medical fraud in Los Angeles or Southern California. If so, let’s address a large “elephant in the room” issue — something not often talked about. Namely this: how do otherwise caring and well intention doctors, chiropractors, dentists and other caregivers get “sucked into” perpetrating Southern California white collar crimes, like insurance fraud, credit card fraud, etc?

Now, most people out there assume that doctors or others who engage in fraudulent behavior started with a “master plan” of some sort. They have a cartoonish image of an “evil mastermind” criminal – a la Dr. Evil.

In the real world, however, fraud and other crimes often happen spontaneously, accidentally, unintentionally, etc! This isn’t to say that planning is not involved. Indeed, many people who get into the “Medicare fraud business” (if you will) spend a great deal of time strategizing and executing on their plans. Some of the systems used are extremely complicated, after all.

Published on: June 13, 2012

72 Year Prison Sentence for 50-Year-Old Guilty of Los Angeles Medicare Fraud?

by Michael Kraut

Last Friday, 50-year-old David James Garrison was found guilty of perpetrating a Los Angeles Medicare fraud scam that bilked the federal program out of almost $19 million.

As a result of his convictions — fraud, conspiracy, and other Los Angeles white collar criminal charges — Garrison could face more than seven decades behind bars and a fine of up to $2 million. If he ends up having to serve that entire prison sentence, he would have to become the 2nd oldest person in the history of the world to ever see freedom again.

Garrison worked as a physician’s assistant at various bogus medical clinics. He pilfered the identities of patients and used those IDs to create false prescriptions and to place orders for (Medicare funded) equipment. He also stole the identities of doctors to write these fake scripts.

Published on: June 11, 2012

Los Angeles Medicare Fraud News Alert: Scheme Out of Pennsylvania Has Seniors Livid

by Michael Kraut

If you or a loved one has been arrested for Los Angeles Medicare or Medical fraud, odds are that what you did (or allegedly did) pales in comparison to what four Pennsylvania men have been accused of doing. Last week, Ross Rabelow, Thomas Muldoon, Bruce Cherry, and Robert Lerner were hit with multiple criminal charges pursuant to accusations that they victimised 218 Pennsylvania seniors. Prosecutors allege that many of the victims lived alone and were very elderly – 83-years old was the average age. The Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section and Elder Abuse Unit called the scheme “Operation False Comfort,” and investigators painted a vivid and disturbing picture about what went on:

• Seniors were often encouraged to cancel actual insurance policies to purchase bogus long-term healthcare;

• More than two-thirds of all the checks written to American Comfort (one of the defendant’s companies) were used to pay salespeople and the owners, while only 3% of the company’s money was used to provide services;

Published on: June 9, 2012

Los Angeles Sex Crime News: Unusual Miami Police Tactics Net 57 Arrests in Two-Day Sting

by Michael Kraut

If you’ve been accused of a sex crime in Los Angeles, like lewd conduct, you probably feel terrified and nervous about your potential punishments. It can be helpful to gain perspective on your arrest by looking beyond your situation — and beyond your city, even. At the very least, expanding your perspective should help you feel “less alone” and more capable of facing your Los Angeles lewd conduct charges.

To that end, consider that, two weeks ago, Miami police officers arrested 57 people in a two-day operation in Miami’s North District. The commander of “Operation Resilience” dubbed the operation “a different twist on the tried and true.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Published on: June 5, 2012

Sad and Scary Los Angeles Lewd Conduct Allegations

by Michael Kraut

Last week, 25-year old Jorge Luis Dominguez, an aide at Los Angeles Unified School District School, was arrested for lewd conduct in Los Angeles and held on a bail of $100,000.

Since 2004, Dominguez worked as a coach and aide to teachers. LAUSD superintendent, John Deasy, released a statement about the allegations, which included “criminal acts against children” as well as “lewd acts with a child.” Deasy called these allegations “horrifying and sickening.” According to initial reports, the crimes did not occur at school, and it’s unclear at this point whether a student was a victim. An anonymous mother railed against the notification process, expressing disgust and dismay. Thus far, there is no court date on the books. Shortly after Dominguez’s arrest early Thursday morning, the school terminated his employment.

As this case illustrates, charges of lewd conduct in Los Angeles – or other sex crimes or violent crimes – particularly when they involve children – touch our emotions powerfully. Cases like this are scary and potentially disgusting and disturbing. In the midst of all the allegations — the name calling and fear — it’s easy for compassion and empathy to get lost, especially with respect to the alleged criminal.

Published on: June 1, 2012

Exactly What Not to Do After a Los Angeles Petty Theft

by Michael Kraut

If you or a friend has recently been arrested for petty theft in Los Angeles, odds are, in sober reflection, you probably wouldn’t have made the same decisions that landed you where you are.

We all make bone-headed decisions, from time-to-time. One case out of Milwaukee, however, takes this concept of “the dumb criminal” to almost cartoonishly absurd levels.

20-year old Houaka Yang stole a camera from the aide to a Republican State Senate candidate and used the camera to film himself gleefully confessing to the theft. The owner of the camera, 25-year old Chris Rochester, ultimately got the camera back and noticed a bunch of new videos on his camera – videos that weren’t there before the theft. He checked them out. Most were uneventful – recordings of television screens. But one video caught his eye – a video of the thief confessing to the crime. Here is a full quote. It sounds like something Dr. Evil’s daffy little brother would say. But it’s a real quote, and it’s kind of amazing: “This is my house, yes, and a stolen video camera that I stole, but it’s okay, the cops won’t figure it out….Oh yeah, to introduce you, my name is Houaka Yang, so yeah. How do you do.”

Published on: May 25, 2012

Los Angeles Lewd Conduct: An Icky Case Out of Florida Makes You Think Twice about Using the Bus

by Michael Kraut

Fortunately, most cases of lewd conduct in Los Angeles are not as weird and disturbing as this one…

A 19-year old woman, Krystal Kamil Hernandez, has been arrested; charged with lewd conduct, sexual battery, and lascivious exhibition; and held in a Florida jail on $35,000 bail in connection with a series of events on local public buses. Ms. Hernandez allegedly showed her pubic region and genitals to several underage girls, including a pair of 16-years old and a pair of 15-years old, according to a deputy’s allegations. She also has been accused of trying to assault a 13-year old girl with a sex toy and texting a nude picture of herself to a 14-year old girl.

All told, not exactly an excellent situation, for anyone involved.

Published on: May 23, 2012

A Fun Way to Deter Petty Theft in Los Angeles – Lessons for the Accused, Too

by Michael Kraut

If you’ve been arrested for petty theft in Los Angeles – due to shoplifting, stealing an item from work, or something along those lines, you are probably pretty frightened about what’s going to happen to you. How will you deal with the fallout, such as jail time, mandatory restitution, a criminal record? What will you do if you face deeper legal complications — e.g. if you have a prior record and/or if the Los Angeles petty theft was done in conjunction with other crimes, such as hit and run, robbery, sexual assault, etcetera?

Solutions to your problems – as well as solutions to the general problem of theft crime in our society – may be simpler than you and many other people have been led to believe.

Enter a very interesting innovation called the “anti-theft lunch bag.” Engineered by two designers named Sherwood and Mihoko, these bags look like normal zip lock sandwich bags. But they’re colored to look moldy and disgusting. The idea is: put your sandwich in one of these bags, and it looks like the food has rotted through or covered with mold. Hence, you deter employee lunchroom “lunch thieves.”

Published on: May 16, 2012

Massive Medicare Fraud Strike Force Arrest Over 100 in Los Angeles and Beyond

by Michael Kraut

107 people were apprehended for healthcare fraud in Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa, Baton Rouge, Miami, Houston, and Detroit the week before last. Investigators allege that the defendants (in total) are responsible for around $450 million in illegal Medicare bills.

Wow.

As this blog and other sources have reported, the Obama administration has gone to great lengths to crack down on Medicare fraud in Southern California and beyond. Recent estimates suggest that around $20 billion of taxpayer funds have been recovered in various antifraud operations. This latest Medicare Fraud Strike Force action named a diverse roster of defendants, including therapists, social workers, physicians, ambulance businesses, healthcare companies, and pharmacists. Annual estimates of healthcare fraud in this country are mindboggling. Upwards of nearly $100 billion may be pilfered every year through various fraudulent enterprises and scams.