Dentist Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Filing a False Health Care Claim and Filing a False Tax Return

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Scott D. Geise, 48, a practicing dentist from Newfane, New York, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years' supervised release by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara after pleading guilty to filing a false health care claim and filing a false tax return. Geise’s trial had already begun with witnesses being called when he decided to take a plea. Also as part of his sentence, Judge Arcara also ordered Geise to pay restitution in the amount of $40,022.85 to the insurance companies that he defrauded and $87,781.97 to the Internal Revenue Service for taxes owed.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy C. Lynch and John E. Rogowski, who handled the case, stated that the defendant admitted to devising a scheme to defraud insurance companies by submitting false claim forms to, and receiving unearned payments from, the insurance companies. For instance, when certain patients asked for a bleach whitening kit, which was not covered by insurance, the defendant and/or the defendant’s employees would instead bill the patient’s insurance company for an occlusal guard, which was covered.

AUSA’s Lynch and Rogowski further stated that the defendant admitted to employing an additional scheme to defraud General Motors’ and Delphi’s self-insured dental insurance plan by billing the insurance plan for placing amalgams (silver fillings) in the teeth of several patients, when in fact, the defendant simply applied sealants on the teeth of the patients. The insurance plan did not cover sealants but did cover amalgams.

As part of the plea agreement, the defendant also admitted to assisting another person with submitting a fraudulent claim for health care benefits to the Laborers Local 91 Welfare Fund.

Geise also admitted to filing a false tax return. He admitted that he failed to record cash receipts for his business, Newfane Family Dentistry, P.C., as income, therefore, the corporate tax returns from 2003 to 2005 failed to list over $188,000 in income and the defendant failed to pay corporate taxes of $58,254. Geise also failed to pay taxes on his personal returns for the years 2002 through 2005 in the amount of $29,527.

“In this time of rising health care costs and premiums, health care fraud is something my office will not tolerate on any level” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “When the health care system is defrauded, it drives up costs for everyone, especially those who can least afford it.”

The investigation was the culmination of an investigation of special sgents of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Marjorie Franzman, Special Agent in Charge; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of James Robertson, Special Agent in Charge; the Internal Revenue Service, under the direction of Charles Pine, Special Agent in Charge; the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff James Voutour, and the District’s Health Care Fraud Task Force.