Fraud Alert
A Florida corporation and its owner selling fraudulent contracts for home health care services to senior Floridians has been sued by Attorney General Charlie Crist. Clearwater-based Intrust Home Care and its president, Roy F. Fitzgerald, are accused of taking more than $146,000 from several dozen elderly Florida residents despite never contracting or paying for any of the home care services they promised to provide.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit, filed in Leon County Circuit Court, alleges that Intrust and Fitzgerald sold what were purported to be contracts for home care services, such as dressing, laundry, bathing and housekeeping. Investigators determined that Fitzgerald promised the services but never contracted for anyone to actually provide those services, and failed to maintain reserves to pay for the services should they be needed. Intrust routinely imposed a six to 12-month waiting period before the services would be provided, and in at least four instances the victims died before the waiting period had elapsed.
Senior victims in Florida, and others in California, Virginia and Illinois, paid for contracts at annual rates ranging from approximately $700 to more than $7,600. Other services Intrust was supposed to provide included meals, toileting, grooming, excursions and mobility assistance. Contract holders were told falsely that they could order home companions through Intrust.
Although the contracts appeared similar to insurance and home health care contracts, they were not, at the time, regulated by any state agency.
Miamian apprehended on 48 felony charges; accomplice a fugitive
A Miami man is facing more than 48 felony charges after surrendering to insurance fraud detectives with the Department of Financial Services investigating the theft of nearly $1 million in a 2002 mortgage transaction. The diversion led to foreclosure of a home and put a title company out of business. A second man wanted on similar charges is now considered a fugitive.
John S. Walters, 43, is charged with 52 separate counts of money laundering, organized scheme to defraud and first-degree grand theft, and potentially faces more than 700 years in prison if convicted on the charges. He was booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail, and bond is set at $1 million. Paul Allen Menzel, 49, is wanted on charges of organized scheme to defraud and first-degree grand theft.
Menzel, a former contract closer employed by Title Company of the South, allegedly diverted an escrow account check of more than $997,000 made out to Butler & Hosch, PA, an Orlando law firm. The check was intended to pay an outstanding mortgage loan for a home on Paloma Drive, but instead Menzel diverted the check to John Walters, the corporate representative of the property seller, A Auto Insurance.
Between December 2002 and February 2003, Walters opened a checking account at Ocean Bank in the name of Butler & Hosch Corp., Trust Account, and deposited the stolen check by forging the endorsement. Detectives said Walters bought a new car, paid personal debts, and had repairs made to his home. Menzel received more than $37,000 from the proceeds. As a result of the theft, the prior lender foreclosed on the new owner, and Title Co. of the South was put out of business.
Quality Plus Restoration of Houston agrees to cancel Fla. liens, repay overcharged customers
An agreement has been reached between Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and Quality Plus Restoration, a Houston, Texas-based water extraction company, settles allegations of fraudulent business practices, including price gouging, following Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The settlement will remove liens from homeowners’ property, provide restitution through their insurance companies and pay $50,000 to the State to cover costs of the investigation.
The investigation into Quality’s business practices was prompted by consumer complaints filed with the attorney general. Investigators discovered 42 notices of lien filed by Quality Plus against north Florida homeowners for water extraction work. The liens were fraudulent and violated Quality’s contracts, which called for Quality to only bill the consumer’s insurance company. The settlement requires the company to remove all liens for the 42 homeowners and reimburse for any overcharges paid by consumers.
In addition to removing the liens, allegations of price gouging were also resolved. Under the settlement, Quality agreed to eliminate an “emergency service” charge of $125 imposed on the grounds that a Texas-based company would not perform routine service calls in Florida. The settlement also requires Quality to reduce their charge from $550 to $250 for the use of an infra-red camera to detect moisture, the average cost of such a service. Finally, the settlement reduces an overhead surcharge from 35 percent of the final bill to 20 percent. All invoices were changed to reflect these prices and any invoices paid prior to the agreement will be adjusted and the difference remitted to the consumer.
Louisville surgeon sentenced for Medicaid fraud
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo announced that oral surgeon Robert Michael Clear was sentenced to three years in prison on felony Medicaid fraud charges. The Jefferson Circuit Court sentence was probated for five years on the condition that Clear pay restitution to Medicaid in the amount of $18,175.66. Additionally, Dr. Clear, age 57, was ordered to provide 150 hours of community service each year for the period of probation.
Clear’s licenses to practice in Ohio and Kentucky have also been surrendered. Under the terms of the judgment, Clear is precluded from participation as a provider in any federally funded healthcare program.
Memphis Red Cross missing $75,000
Thirty-eight reports have been filed with Memphis, Tenn. authorities by the Mid-South Red Cross after an internal audit revealed $75,000 in thefts involving scams in which people attempted to claim money meant for Hurricane Katrina victims. Memphis police are investigating the allegations and report they have investigated 60 hurricane-relief scam case reports.
Red Cross officials told the Biloxi Sun-Herald they just want the money back.
Bill Hilderbrandt, Mid-South Red Cross CEO said one person paid the money back and contributed more.
The cases mostly involve actual hurricane victims trying to get more money than they’re entitled. Police incident reports show some people gave incorrect names to get money for themselves or family members or to collect multiple checks from different Red Cross locations.
W.Va. claimant pleads guilty of workers’ compensation fraud
Terry Lee Villers of Wirt County, W.Va. has been sentenced to two felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud according to Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline. Villers was sentenced Dec. 16 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County to two terms of one year probation to run consecutively and ordered to pay restitution in the amount if $11,726.04.
Villers pleaded guilty in Kanawha County Circuit Court Oct. 11 to knowingly securing benefits to which he was not entitled and to making a false statement under oath. Both charges stem from Villers’ claim in September 2004 that he was injured while working as a school bus driver for the Wirt County Board of Education.