Former President of DME Company Sentenced for Health Care Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, announced today’s sentencing of defendant Heriberto Camacho-Garcia, 36, of Miami-Dade County, following his conviction on health care fraud and money laundering offenses.

In 2004, Camacho-Garcia had been the president of Best Choice Medical Services, Inc., a business that purportedly provided durable medical equipment (DME) to Medicare beneficiaries. According to documents filed in the case, while Camacho-Garcia was president, Best Choice Medical Services submitted approximately $8,266,267 in fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for DME items, such as expensive foam wound dressing, that had not been prescribed by physicians nor provided to Medicare beneficiaries. As a result of these fraudulent claims, Medicare paid approximately $1,346,596 to Best Choice Medical Services. Numerous high-dollar checks representing proceeds of the health care fraud scheme were cashed at a Miami-area checking cashing business.

In June 2009, Camacho-Garcia was convicted of health care fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347, and money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957, based on his activities in 2004 while president of Best Choice Medical Services.

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga sentenced Camacho-Garcia to 92 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release, and ordered Camacho-Garcia to pay restitution of $1,346,596 to Medicare.

Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Hunter.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.