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Health Care Fraud Fugitive Captured in Mexico

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 16, 2010
  • Southern District of Florida (305) 961-9001

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office, announce the capture of Jose Luis Perez, a health care fraud fugitive since July 2, 2009.

Jose Luis Perez, age 34, was located and arrested yesterday in Cancun, Mexico. Perez had been living in the Miami area, but fled the country after learning he had been indicted and was going to be arrested. The FBI and HHS-OIG recently received information that he had traveled to Cancun, Mexico. This information was passed on to the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Mexico City, who confirmed Perez' identity and location. Instituto Nacional de Migracion, Mexico's Immigration Service,  then arrested Perez without incident. Perez was brought back to Miami late last night and is currently being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. He will have his initial appearance on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. before the duty Magistrate Judge.

Perez was indicted on June 30, 2009, along with co-defendant Reinaldo Guerra, on charges of conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud, Medicare fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to the Indictment, the fraud involved durable medical equipment (DME), which is equipment that can be used in the home on a repeated basis for a medical purpose. Where DME is prescribed or ordered by a physician, an authorized Medicare provider who supplies the equipment to a Medicare beneficiary may be eligible for reimbursement by Medicare. The Indictment charged that Perez and Guerra owned and operated 21 corporations that purported to supply DME to Medicare beneficiaries pursuant to physicians' prescriptions or written orders, using straw or nominee owners to disguise their control over the companies. They submitted approximately $179 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for DME that had not been prescribed or ordered by a physician nor delivered to a Medicare beneficiary. Based on those claims, Medicare paid the DME companies approximately $56 million. In addition to health care fraud, the defendants were charged with aggravated identity theft for using physicians' Medicare identification numbers without the physicians' authorization.

Guerra was sentenced on November 19, 2009 to 14 years' imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, and to pay $35 million in restitution to the Medicare program.

Special thanks is given to the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Mexico City and the Instituto Nacional de Migracion for their exceptional work on this case.

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