What have you heard about the dentist...

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OMFSWanna

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Who was convicted of 10 counts ranging from racketeering to medicaid fraud in virginia? They say he can get a max of 1.2 million dollar fine and 120 years in prison. Kind of scary? Anyone else hear about this? I just read about it today because he is being sentenced tomorrow.

He is also convicted of rendering unnecessary and dangerous services to children, money laundering, double charging insurance companies and never performing some prodcedures he charged insurance for.
 
I have not heard about this, but I'm sure it will surface sooner or later. But just reading your post disgusts me. Its an absolute travesty that this dentist went through school, and is allowed to practice (not any more hopefully).
 
Urban legend until the OP gets the link to this news.
 
I heard of this story. What I don't understand is even if guilty (which he was convicted), why is his maximum sentence more than that of some murderers. That is a flawed justice system if you ask me.
 
SugarNaCl said:
I heard of this story. What I don't understand is even if guilty (which he was convicted), why is his maximum sentence more than that of some murderers. That is a flawed justice system if you ask me.
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+++
 
Wow, those articles send some chills up my spine. :scared:
 
wow, i just read those two contrasting sides of the story end-to-end. thanks to lemoncurry for providing the defendant POV.

what boggles me is the amount of tax-payer money and resources that must have gone into this invesitgation. my roommate works in federal prosecution and thinks that an investigation like this must have cost a ton. in my mind, it is clear that uncle sam is trying to set a hard and fast precedent for those healthcare providers who (possibly) manipulate medicaid to their benefit. that message is "provider beware!"

the fact that RICO was implemented for seizure and forfeiture of his assets is friggin' mind-blowing, considering this guy is dentist. ultimately, as dr.shelburne noted, this "sealed his fate".

i've got to admit that based on what i READ and the general atmosphere surrounding the case, i would have to support this dentist. i am not sure why he didn't opt for a plea bargain after realizing he had neither the resources nor fate working in his favor.

i guess tomorrow is the big day. since i live in DC i will not be surprised if the evening news does a segment on the sentencing. if anyone out there following this hears anything during the day, please post a link to the updated story.
 
Funny how threads like this pop up, as if it is trying to sensationalize a few bad apples in the profession.
 
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I was thinking of taking Medicaid. Now, I'm thinking the poor can suffer cuz I sure as hell ain't gonna risk anything. Everything that happened to that man came out of 8k. Even if everything he did was purposeful and coordinated, the penalty doesn't match the crime.
 
blankguy said:
Funny how threads like this pop up, as if it is trying to sensationalize a few bad apples in the profession.
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hey, its important to be cognizant of all areas and news of the profession that we are all pursuing...even horrific stories like this

has anybody out there ever come across the book by mark bowdon called doctor dealer? now that was one bad apple of a dentist...
 
blankguy said:
Funny how threads like this pop up, as if it is trying to sensationalize a few bad apples in the profession.
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I'm not so sure that that was the posters intent. I am interested a bit strictly because this guys son just graduated from the school I go to... and I guess he is an alumni as well. It is difficult not to be a bit surprised and looking at the other side makes me even feel mildly sympathetic. They talk about him going on trips to give people free dental care. I'm certain that would offset the $8000 over 5 years that this dentist took from medicaid. Of course there likely is much more to it, but it is just rather tragic at any rate... from both points of view.
 
How could the government confiscate his properties before the trial? And I agree with SugarNaCl that the penalty is quite harsh. How could they charge him 1.5 mil when he only overbilled $8000? But then again, the article doesn't say what kind of inhuman treatments he did and it's hard to judge. I am sure there are more to the story.
 
"Over-zealous federal prosecutors rely on controversial “lifestyle” evidence to convict Dr. Shelburne of Medicaid fraud by showing pictures of his house and cars to the jury."

What the hell? He gets a harsher punishment than most murderers that I hear about, all for $8000 over 5 years and this "lifestyle evidence" business? $8000 can't get you a luxurious car or house, so who knows what evidence they had. Obviously we don't know details or how/why this happened and what else may have gone down, but I'm wondering how much of this is due to all the wealth envy and the war against the rich that's been going on these days.
 
firecracked said:
"Over-zealous federal prosecutors rely on controversial “lifestyle” evidence to convict Dr. Shelburne of Medicaid fraud by showing pictures of his house and cars to the jury."

What the hell? He gets a harsher punishment than most murderers that I hear about, all for $8000 over 5 years and this "lifestyle evidence" business? $8000 can't get you a luxurious car or house, so who knows what evidence they had. Obviously we don't know details or how/why this happened and what else may have gone down, but I'm wondering how much of this is due to all the wealth envy and the war against the rich that's been going on these days.
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it seems that he didn't have adequate legal resouces due to the seizure of his $$$ and assets, so the prosecution obviously had the upper hand with jury selection....they probably went after jurors who would be unsympathetic towards dentists in some way shape or form. Anti-dentites.
 
I don't know what to think. On one hand, the open letters by the dentist and his son are guininely emotional, believable, and in the son's case, factually grounded.

On the other hand, why would a multpile-agency taskforce surmount a decade-long investigation grounded in hearsay and gross misrepresentation of fact against a small town dentist in order to ruin his family?

Another thing I don't understand is that according to the press release the dentist misbilled "hundreds of thousands of dollars" but the son states it was only 8,000.

Either way, something here really, really, really stinks.
 
AndyK said:
I don't know what to think. On one hand, the open letters by the dentist and his son are guininely emotional, believable, and in the son's case, factually grounded.

On the other hand, why would a multpile-agency taskforce surmount a decade-long investigation grounded in hearsay and gross misrepresentation of fact against a small town dentist in order to ruin his family?

Another thing I don't understand is that according to the press release the dentist misbilled "hundreds of thousands of dollars" but the son states it was only 8,000.

Either way, something here really, really, really stinks.
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Andy, I believe he was also convicted of double charging insur. cos. and charging for services he allegedly never performed. It wasn't all medicaid, there were 10 counts that he was convicted of. On the other hand, while financial crimes are immoral, who was physically hurt? I doubt anyone. Point being if you own a business, the buck stops with you...not with the one that manages your finances.
 
This case was tried in federal court over a span of (I think) several months. That puts the cost to try in the 200k range, with the exact amount depending on the quality of the lawyers involved. The state of Virginia was willing to spend that much asset to try a 12.5k case. That means they wanted to send a message to prevent dentists from cheating medicaid. This message, unfortunately, makes me not want to help the underserved, and many of us will be catering our practices to the rich now.

Keeping overpayment by Medicaid puts us at severe legal liability even thou it's THEIR fault. Who really makes the extra effort to return pocket change? Not me. Accepting medicaid would put dentists in potential, severe catastrophe.
 
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UCSF2012 said:
This case was tried in federal court over a span of (I think) several months. That puts the cost to try in the 200k range, with the exact amount depending on the quality of the lawyers involved. The state of Virginia was willing to spend that much asset to try a 12.5k case. That means they wanted to send a message to prevent dentists from cheating medicaid. This message, unfortunately, makes me not want to help the underserved, and many of us will be catering our practices to the rich now.

Keeping overpayment by Medicaid puts us at severe legal liability even thou it's THEIR fault. Who really makes the extra effort to return pocket change? Not me. Accepting medicaid would put dentists in potential, severe catastrophe.
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Is it true adult Medicaid patients will no longer receive dental coverage?
 
I don't think the sons fully understood what the lawyers were doing, as he misstated what the courts did numerous times.

Per US V Shelburne (W.D.Va., 2007), Shelburne is charged with racketeering, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, transportation of stolen property in excess of $5,000, healthcare fraud, two counts of monetary transactions in excess of $10,000 involving fraud and two forfeiture counts seeking forfeiture of certain property.

The cars, homes, etc were not used as evidence that the man was guilty. There were used to established he had a motive of greed, a motive to cheat the government. The case also stated that there were indications Shelburne understood the law, partly in how he purchased the items (in other peoples' names to avoid filing IRS claims). Many of his actions may have been done with explicit intent to evade the system, with respect to the charged offenses. Shelburne knew at least partly how the system worked and tried to manuvre around it. Until he got caught. This court case also said that these types of illegal activities had been occuring well before this 5 year period. It just turns out that the government could only prosecute for the last 5 year period.
 
dentstd said:
This court case also said that these types of illegal activities had been occuring well before this 5 year period. It just turns out that the government could only prosecute for the last 5 year period.
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Dents right. They had been going on since '98.
 
did anybody hear anything about the sentencing yesterday?
 
lemoncurry said:
i just read somewhere (a blog) that the sentencing is on June 16th.
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sentencing must have been pushed back a week from today. i figured something was up considering there was no news reported. thanks.
 
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