Calif. Chiropractors Nabbed in Scam

An El Dorado County, Calif., chiropractor and three Central Valley, Calif., chiropractors have been arrested on multiple felony counts, including insurance fraud.

Richard Guadalupe Saucedo, 62, of Turlock, and Pedram Vaezi, 33, of Modesto, were charged with filing false insurance claims and practicing medicine without certification, which is a state felony. Joseph R. Ambrose, 43, of El Dorado Hills, and Michael Hall Yates, 48, of Stockton, were charged with multiple felony counts, including practicing medicine without certification, conspiracy to commit a crime, grand theft, workers’ compensation insurance fraud, unlawful rebates and filing false insurance claims.

Investigators allege that Yates and Ambrose were two of six co-owners of the Sierra Hills Surgery and Medical Center, an outpatient surgery center in Sacramento, Calif. An investigation revealed the suspects were directing and performing a surgical procedure known as Manipulation under Anesthesia (MUA). Chiropractors are prohibited from performing and/or participating in medical-surgical procedures.

Saucedo and Vaezi were assistant surgeons to Ambrose. Saucedo, Vaezi, and Ambrose were also employees of Modesto, Calif.-based Med-1 Medical Center, the focus of an ongoing San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office/ California Department of Insurance joint investigation.

The owner of Med-1 Medical Center, Wilmer Origel, D.C., was an owner of Sierra Hills Surgery and Medical Center. Origel was additionally the owner of a billing company, Unique Health Care Management, which, during the time in question, performed billing for Sierra Hills Surgery and Medical Center.

Origel, his administrator Robin Barney, and financial officer Rebecca Benedict, were arrested by CDI Criminal Investigators in January 2005 for allegations of fraudulent billing and other criminal charges.