R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Melody Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, announced the sentencing of defendant Rene Rodriguez, a medical equipment company owner.

United States District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages sentenced defendant Rene Rodriguez earlier today to 48 months' imprisonment for defrauding Medicare of $2.2 million in payments for medical equipment that was never provided to Medicare patients. Judge Ungaro-Benages also ordered Rodriguez to serve 3 years of supervised release upon his release from prison and to pay $2.2 million in restitution to Medicare.

According to documents filed with the Court, Rodriguez's durable medical equipment (DME) company, DC Medical Services Inc. (DC Medical), of Hialeah, submitted numerous false claims to Medicare in 2006 for medical equipment that was never ordered by physicians and never provided to Medicare patients. Thereafter, the proceeds of the fraud were deposited into at least four bank accounts controlled by Rodriguez. In July and August 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed warrants upon the bank accounts, seizing approximately $1.4 million.
The United States Attorney's Office sought to forfeit the $1.4 million when it criminally charged Rodriguez in September 2006. In today's sentencing, the judge ordered that the $1.4 million be forfeited to the government, along with $262,000 in Medicare checks to DC Medical that were never cashed or deposited. The United States Attorney's Office will seek to have all forfeited funds restored to the Medicare program.

This prosecution is another example of the U.S. Attorney's Office's efforts to conduct "fast track" health care fraud prosecutions, as announced in a December 2005 bu U.S. Attorney Acosta. In this case, only two months elapsed between the seizure of $1.4 million in fraud proceeds and the filing of criminal charges.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Frank, Deputy Chief of the Economic and Environmental Crimes Section, and Assistant United States Attorney William Healy, of the Asset Forfeiture Division.

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