Fla. firm owner guilty of Medicare fraud

WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- A Florida-based medical equipment company owner has been convicted of defrauding Medicare, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

DOJ said Gisela Valladares, owner of PRN Home Health Care, was found guilty on five counts, including conspiracy to defraud the the government and submit false claims and receive kickbacks, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and three counts of receiving kickbacks.

The charges stem from a scheme Valladares was running with two sham pharmacies in which Valladares and others involved in the durable medical equipment business would provide the fake pharmacies -- which were actually just Medicare-fraud "mills" -- with bogus prescriptions for "compounded" aerosol medications, which the "pharmacy" owners would then bill to Medicare.

The pharmacy owners, Alfonso Rodriguez and Henry Gonzalez, testified that they billed Medicare a total of $20 million in fake prescriptions from Valladares, of which Valladares would be paid half in kickbacks.

Valladares was able to write the phony prescriptions by paying off elderly Medicare patients for their Medicare information, DOJ said.

Valladares faces up to 30 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20 before U.S. District Judge Michael Moore.