The Indian American doctor couple operated Allergy, Asthma, Arthritis and Pain Centers in Webster and in Baytown, Texas.
The FBI has termed the clinic of Dr. Arun Sharma and his wife, Dr. Kiran Sharma as a ‘pill mill’.
The prescriptions
The couple allegedly prescribed 615,000 tablets of Vicodan, 66,000 tablets of Xanax, and 26,000 tablets of Valium in less than a year.
A single patient was prescribed more than 8,000 hydrocodone tablets in an eight month period spanning September 2008 and April 2009. Two prescriptions were issued to this patient on a single day.
The husband and wife, both aged 54, used to charge up to $100 from the patients for each hydrocodone prescription, revealed the officials.
The couple has also been charged for a conspiracy to defraud Medicare and Medicaid. The doctors allegedly billed the government for more than $8.7 million for facet joint injections that were never performed.
Laurie Gruver, who works across the street said, “Lots of traffic, 3 cars deep, they come and go all day long when he's in clinic."
Astounding amount involved
While searching the couple’s home, investigators found a whopping $700,000. Another amount of $816,000 was recovered from a pair of bank safe deposit boxes issued in the name of Dr Sharma.
The FBI has termed it as a staggering dollar fraud, given the fact that there were only two people involved in the crime.
Sourced familiar with the matter state that this revelation could just be the tip of the iceberg, as the actual fraud could be run into a much bigger amount.
The complaint alleges that Dr Kiran Sharma handled all the financial aspects, be it the inflow of funds by way of fees or be it the payment of bills.
The charges carry a punishment of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
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