Bowling Green Physician Sentenced To 96 Months In Prison For Unlawfully Distributing And Dispensing Controlled Substances And Health Care Fraud

            BOWLING GREEN, Ky. –Warren County, Kentucky, physician Charles Fred Gott was sentenced in United States District Court, before United States District Judge Greg N. Stivers, to 96 months’ imprisonment for multiple charges of unlawful distribution and dispensing of controlled substances and health care fraud, announced United States Attorney Russel M. Coleman.

            Charles Fred Gott, age 66, a formerly licensed physician in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, was initially indicted by a grand jury in Bowling Green on June 10, 2015.  Today, Gott was sentenced in accordance with his plea of guilty, entered on February 5, 2018, and ordered to pay restitution and Court costs in the amount of $162,366.46, and forfeited his medical license, which had previously been suspended.  Furthermore, Gott was order to pay a fine in the amount of $17,500.      

            Today’s sentence covers criminal activity between 2006 and September 19, 2013, in Warren County, Kentucky.  Gott admitted to conspiring with members of his office and others to knowingly and intentionally distribute and dispense, not for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice, Schedule II, Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled substances.  Included are 14 counts of unlawfully dispensing Methadone and Fentanyl – Schedule II controlled substances, Hydrocodone – a Schedule III controlled substance, and Clonazepam and Oxymorphone – Schedule IV controlled substances – between June 10, 2010 and September 19, 2013.

            Further, between 2006 and September 19, 2013, Gott admitted to falsely and fraudulently billing  various health care benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, among others, by submitting claims for office visits at a higher code than the service actually provided for patients under his care.

            Also, during that same period, Gott falsely and fraudulently billed various health care benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, among others, by submitting claims for medically unnecessary spirometry tests for patients and electrocardiogram (EKG/ECG) tests for patients.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mac Shannon, Lettricea Jefferson-Webb and Joseph Ansari. This case was investigated by the Warren County Drug Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Drug Diversion Section, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Office of the  of the Attorney General, Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Warren County Drug Task Force, led by Director Tommy Loving, along with detectives from KSP’s West Drug Enforcement Branch, were instrumental in identifying and developing this case for federal prosecution.