Local Chiropractor Enters Pleas of Guilty in Federal Court

WHEELING, WV—A local chiropractor entered pleas of guilty on October 9, 2012, in United States District Court in Wheeling before Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.

The United States Attorney’s Office announced that:

Joseph J. Yurigan, age 62, of New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, entered pleas of guilty to one count of health care fraud by submitting a fraudulent claim to a health care benefit program and one count of income tax evasion for the calendar year 2008. Yurigan, a doctor of chiropractic medicine and licensed to practice in the state of West Virginia, operated two chiropractic clinics in the Northern District of West Virginia. One clinic is located in Weirton, West Virginia, and is operated under the name Weirton Chiropractic Clinic. The other clinic was operated under the name Wheeling Spine Center.

As part of his plea, Yurigan will make restitution of $513,373.92 for the health care violation and $322,692.03 for the tax evasion violation and will pay not less than $501,639.57 towards that restitution prior to his sentencing.

Yurigan faces a maximum exposure of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 on the health care fraud charge and five years’ imprisonment and a fine of $100,000 on the tax evasion charge.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Randolph J. Bernard and Alan G. McGonigal and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation-Special Investigations Department, the West Virginia Insurance Commission-Fraud Investigation Unit, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.