A National City man was among five medical service professionals who were arrested as part of a massive bribery scheme in which they allegedly paid or received kickbacks in getting patient referrals.
Juan Estrada Garcia, 32, is accused of paying $5,000 in cash twice to an unnamed chiropractor in order to get patient referrals for selling hot/cold therapy units. His firm was not named in the grand jury indictments unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Garcia is charged with conspiracy, 11 counts of honest services mail fraud, and three counts of using cell phones in interstate commerce with a chiropractor for patients’ names.
Garcia is expected to plead not guilty this week and was initially housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center before bail could be set.
Hot/cold therapy units were described as packs used for swelling and injuries which were continuously circulated through tubes and pads attached to patients.
The charges were unveiled in a press conference by U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. Offices in Chula Vista, National City, San Diego, and elsewhere were searched.
“This criminal network bought and sold people like cattle. The game is over,” said Dumanis.
Duffy said the DA’s office contributed to the investigation and promised more indictments that would include physicians. Duffy said the doctor/patient relationship “should not be corrupted by greed.”
Duffy said the scheme involved $25 million in improper claims for medical services and devices which were then billed to the California Workers Compensation insurance program.
Others arrested include North Park chiropractor George K. Reese, 50; radiologist Ronald Grusd, 69, of Los Angeles; Ruben Martinez, 59, of Murietta; and Alexander Martinez, 37, of Calexico. Lee Mathis, 70, of San Clemente, and Fernando Valdes, 50, of Westminster, were charged but not arrested.
A warrant for the arrest of Gonzalo Ernesto Paredes, 59, of La Verne, was issued and he was described as a fugitive. Duffy said the bribes in the form of cash payments were delivered in envelopes or inside newspapers. She said one bribe of $6,000 in cash was inside a gift bag left at a restaurant for a chiropractor.
