Brotherly Love Ambulance EMT Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud Scheme

PHILADELPHIA—Neel Jackson, 35, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to health care fraud in connection with a scheme involving Brotherly Love Ambulance Inc. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 17, 2014.

In July 2010, Feda Kuran, charged elsewhere, began operating Brotherly Love Ambulance Inc. with a co-schemer. Jackson, an emergency medical technician (EMT) employed by Brotherly Love, transported patients by ambulance when those patients could have been transported safely by other means and were, therefore, not eligible for ambulance service under Medicare and Medicaid requirements. Jackson and others completed paperwork, including “run sheets” representing that patients needed ambulance services when he knew that they were able to walk or to be transported by public transportation or para-transit van. In addition, Jackson gave envelopes he understood to contain cash or other payments to induce patients to allow Brotherly Love to transport them and/or to induce them to remain with Brotherly Love. Finally, Jackson received payments for referring patients to Feda Kuran and/or Brotherly Love. As a result of Jackson’s actions, the Medicare program paid more than $200,000 in inappropriate bills. As a result of the overall scheme at Brotherly Love, the Medicare program paid more than $2 million in inappropriate bills.

The defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years of in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and an order of restitution and forfeiture.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew J.D. Hogan and Paul W. Kaufman.