SAN DIEGO (KYMA, KECY) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Javad Aghaloo, an Imperial County dentist, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 37 months in prison for defrauding Medicare and then covering it up.
Melissa Rosas, who was Aghaloo’s former billing manager, was sentenced to three years of probation with one year of home confinement.
She was sentenced for obstructing Medicare’s efforts to audit Aghaloo’s dental offices by providing false information.
Both Aghaloo and Rosas and others conspired to commit healthcare fraud by billing Medicare for procedures that were not covered, performed, or necessary.
Aghaloo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud on October 2, 2023.
While Rosas pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal audit on October 13, 2023.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Aghaloo will have to forfeit more than $1 million in property bought with money obtained from the fraud and pay restitution to Medicare of $8,476,466.23.
Aghaloo and others recruited Medicare beneficiaries to get dental work done at one of his two dental offices in Imperial County, according to court records.
Source: Imperial County Dentist sentenced to over three years in prison for Medicare fraud / KYMA