MIAMI, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A Miami doctor was sent to prison for 30 years Wednesday for aiding a massive Medicare fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.
Besides the stiff sentence given Dr. Ana Alvarez-Jacinto -- one of the longest ever given to a physician in a federal Medicare fraud case.-- U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno gave a seven-year prison term to co-defendant Sandra Mateos, 44, a nurse.
The judge also ordered Alvarez-Jacinto and Mateos, who were convicted in October, to serve three years of supervised release following their prison term and to pay $8.3 million in restitution to the Medicare program.
Prosecutors say Alvarez-Jacinto worked in a Miami HIV/AIDS clinic that functioned as a front for a trio of Cuban immigrant brothers who allegedly masterminded a $119 million Medicare scam before fleeing to Cuba last June, the newspaper said.
Alvarez-Jacinto, 54, contended she was unaware her clinic was a front for Medicare fraud, and took out an ad in El Nuevo Herald saying, "I am innocent of the charges filed against me." In the ad, she appealed for fellow physicians, patients and others to come to her aid at the sentencing and urged them to write letters of support to the judge, the Herald said.
That ad apparently didn't work in her favor. The judge found her trial testimony to be perjurious and enhanced her sentence for obstruction of justice.
Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew Friedrich called it a case in which a doctor provided unneeded medical services "simply to bilk Medicare and make a fast buck." He said the sentence should send a "clear message" to healthcare providers.
