A Lancaster woman was arrested Tuesday on federal charges stemming from a scheme that allegedly bilked Medicare out of more than $30 million for hospice services often provided to patients who were not terminally ill.
Callie Jean Black, 63, of Lancaster, Dr. Victor Contreras, 66, of Santa Paula, and former Pasadena resident Juanita Antenor, 59, who remains at large and is believed to be in the Philippines, were named in a 14-count indictment unsealed Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Black and Contreras were arrested Tuesday.
Antenor owned two hospice companies that billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for unnecessary services or for services that were never provided, prosecutors allege.
Contreras, who was on probation imposed by the California Medical Board while he was allegedly part of the scheme, provided fraudulent certifications for some of the patients, including some he claimed to have examined but never actually saw, according to the indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Antenor allegedly paid marketers, including Black, illegal kickbacks for the patients referred to the two hospice companies.
Antenor and Contreras are charged with multiple counts of health care fraud, and Antenor is additionally charged with multiple counts of paying illegal kickbacks for health care referrals.
Black is charged with four counts of receiving illegal kickbacks, which carries a sentence of up to 40 years behind bars, prosecutors noted.
UPDATE: Callie Jean Black of Lancaster pleaded not guilty following her arrest on Tuesday, March 8, and was granted release on bond.
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Esther Smith says
I’m sure that this is only the tip of the ice berg. I bet there are more than two fist fulls of these fraudulent workers out there.
Our Health Care System is what’s sick.
Tim Scott says
Well, yeah. There are undoubtedly a whole swarm of such criminals out there. As Shelena said, the “We’re gonna save some money! Slash that budget! No oversight required!” crew has, as always, cost more than they saved.
That brings up two questions.
1) Are they so dumb that they just keep on making the same mistake over and over and over, or is it not a mistake? I assert they aren’t dumb, they are intentionally creating these situations and are connected to the people who are driving GIGANTIC organizations grifting out hundreds of millions, if not billions, from the resulting ‘opportunities.’ We will see the occasional independent grifters like these brought to justice as distractions from the industrial grade mass theft that was the intended result.
2) will the conservative voters who are ALWAYS supporting these ‘budget cutters’ no matter how many times they prove out costing more than they save EVER catch on?
At Large says
The Philippines does have an extradition treaty with the US.
Tim Scott says
Yeah. That doesn’t mean that finding them will be a high priority for the police there, but if they happen across them they would send them back.
Shelena says
I’m not surprised that they were getting away with this for so long. Budget cuts took away the middle man, the investigators, health care field workers, social workers etc. the few we have are overworked and doing the work of 3 people! They know this, so they’re not even worried about someone asking to see or review or question anything they do. It’s just sad that the people who really needed those services had to suffer.