By Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
MSNBC

Criminals posing as legitimate businesses have accessed critical personal data stored by ChoicePoint Inc., a firm that maintains databases of background information on virtually every U.S. citizen, MSNBC.com has learned.

TRENTON - Division of Criminal Justice Director Vaughn L. McKoy announced that a Hunterdon County woman has pleaded guilty to Health Care Claims Fraud and forgery for submitting more than 40 fraudulent health insurance claims worth more than $13,900.

According to Director McKoy and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden-Brown, Carol Severe, 65, Hamden Road, Annandale, Hunterdon County, pleaded guilty before Hunterdon County Superior Court Judge Robert Reed to a criminal Accusation filed by the Division of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. The Accusation charged Severe with Health Care Claims Fraud (3rd degree) and uttering a forged document (4th degree). When sentenced on May 6, Severe faces up to six and a half years in state prison and a fine of up to $25,000. Severe may also face civil insurance fraud fines pursuant to the civil Insurance Fraud Prevention Act.

Six people are charged with welfare fraud in connection with the case.

Six people are under arrest in connection with a prescription drug and welfare fraud ring in Boone County.

State Troopers said ringleader Tara Kirk impersonated her co-workers while working at Madison Healthcare so she could call in false prescriptions for the painkiller hydrocodone.

Police said the arrests of Michelle Chafin and Pamela Ward for prescription and welfare fraud led them to Kirk.

By DEBORAH SONTAG
“Scores of patients at the V.A. hospital in Albany were put at risk, and employees say bigger concerns were dismissed by officials.” Mr. Kornak, who pleaded guilty to fraud wasn’t even a physician, though patients knew him as “Dr. Kornak.”

This article reads like a vignette right out of “Catch Me If You Can,” the story of Frank Abagnale, a notorious scam artist.

U.S. attorney says he’s serious about health care fraud, LancasterOnline.com

U.S. Attorney E. Thomas Johnston announced plea agreements of five healthcare fraud cases.

The article describes the settlements with five providers:

• Dr. William C. Dressler of Martinsburg, WV was charged with upcoding.

• Dr. Sadtha Surattanont of Romney, WV agreed to settle charges of upcoding by paying $195,000 and agreeing to five years of monitoring of his participation in Medicaid and Medicare.

• Dr. Harry D. Price of Martinsburg, WV allegedly filed false claims from 1997 to 2002.

NEWARK - Two former employees of major New Jersey pharmaceutical companies were sentenced today for the illegal sale of nearly $300,000 in prescription drug samples to pharmacies in New Jersey and Florida, as well as a separate scheme to defraud Schering-Plough Corp. of more than $500,000, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Faith S. Hochberg sentenced former Schering-Plough employee Alexander Best, 35, of Lincoln Park, to 16 months in prison and ordered him to pay $547,331 in restitution to Schering-Plough.

Former Novartis sales representative Philip Zamloot, 35, also of Lincoln Park, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $156,997 in restitution to Schering-Plough.

United States Attorney Carol C. Lam announced today that three of the principals of an Internet pharmacy business known as MyRxForLess pled guilty in federal district court in San Diego before United States District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller to federal charges related to their roles in an Internet pharmacy scheme. Charles William Naron pled guilty to conspiracy, conspiracy to launder money and to criminal forfeiture. In his plea, Naron admitted that beginning in December 2002, and continuing up to the time of his arrest on November 5, 2004, he, together with Stephen Lewis and Pamela Lewis, operated an Internet pharmacy business, known as MyRxForLess, located in Lake Worth, Florida. Naron acknowledged that MyRxForLess had a website by which customers could order prescription drugs without having a prior prescription. The website falsely stated that all the drugs were obtained from a reputable Mexican pharmacy, and falsely indicated that individual s could lawfully import a 90-day supply of prescription pharmaceuticals into the United States from Mexico.

WICHITA, KAN. – United States Attorney Eric Melgren announced that three
people charged with participating in a scheme to steal insulin from the medical supplies of
the U.S. Army have entered guilty pleas.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten in Wichita received guilty pleas Jan. 26,
2005, from John W. Cooper, 29, Elizabethtown, Ky.; Donna Cooper, Elizabethtown,
Ky.; and Max H. Thomas, 22, Fort Riley, Kan. John Cooper pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to ship stolen merchandise in interstate commerce and to a count seeking forfeiture of cash
and real estate obtained as a result of the crime.

KINGMAN — A former Bullhead City pharmacist pleaded guilty Monday in Mohave County Superior Court to two of the three felony charges he faced.

Howard Jones, 55, was originally charged with fraudulent schemes and artifices, theft and acquiring a narcotic drug.

188 Fraud Counts Charged

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced the return of a second superseding indictment charging Dilbagh S. Chattha, M.D., 52, of Pleasanton, California, with 94 counts of health care fraud and 94 counts of mail fraud. The initial indictment in this case was returned by a grand jury on January 8, 2004.

According to the indictment, Dr. Chattha is alleged to have submitted bills for reimbursement by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the State of California Workers’ Compensation Program in which he claimed that he: