Flagler County Circuit Court Judge David J. Walsh found in 2014 probable cause under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that St. Johns County Commissioner WILLIAM ANTHONY McCLURE and his mother, PAULA STOWELL, R.N., and their Medi+M.D. businesses committed crimes. Judge Walsh served 2001-2016, and was originally appointed by Governor John Edward Bush a/k/a "Jeb Bush." (Photo: FlaglerLive).
Still waiting on Clerk of Court and State Attorney General's Statewide Prosecutor to provide search warrants, affidavits and returns. McCLURE's criminal defense lawyer, Curtis Falgetter, not only threatened me with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), but he's written some forty (40) communications to the State Attorney General's Statewide Prosecutor.
But the St. Augustine Record reported in December 2014:
County Commissioner and his mother investigated for health care fraud
By Stuart Korfhage
Posted Dec 12, 2014 at 7:55 PM.
St. Augustine Record
St.
Newly unsealed search warrants show that state and federal investigators believe St. Johns County Commissioner Bill McClure and his mother, Paula Stowell, falsely billed Medicaid and Medicare, forged prescription documents and kept controlled substances at their medical offices without certification.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office served warrants at the Medi M.D. clinics in Palencia and on South Plantation Island Drive on Oct. 9, taking office computers, boxes full of documents and containers believed to hold controlled substances.
On that day, a basic version of the search warrant said the clinics were being investigated for possible charges of health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, Medicaid Provider fraud, grand theft, falsifying a death certificate and practicing medicine without a license.
In the detailed version obtained Friday from the St. Johns County Clerk of Courts office, the warrant includes detailed accusations based on interviews, mostly of former clinic employees.
“I’m disappointed in the misinformation given to investigators,” McClure said. “It’s a one-sided story and I’m eager to present my side to the Attorney General. ... Every allegation is defensible.”
According to the affidavit to support the search warrants, the investigation of the Medi M.D. clinics began on Feb. 5 when former employee Angela Carr notified the Attorney General’s Office that she believed Medicaid fraud was being committed.
“We have cooperated fully with the Attorney General’s Office and will continue to do so,” McClure’s attorney, Mark S. Barnett said in an email. “Now that these documents have been made public, we have the opportunity clarify and correct these issues. Once the truth comes out, Mr. McClure’s good name will be cleared, and he can continue as the outstanding public servant that he is. We are committed to the truth, and confident that, once the truth is known, this investigation into Bill McClure will be closed.”
No charges have been filed. McClure has continued as a commissioner during the investigation, and the clinics remain open.
Carr was a patient at one of the clinics in November 2013 and worked for the clinics from December 2013 to February 2014. She claimed that Stowell and others billed Medicaid and Medicare for services that were not rendered.
“They charge for another office visit for like therapy on a Friday even though the patient came in on the one day,” Carr said, according to the document. “So they would charge an office visit for two different days on a day that they wouldn’t even be seeing patients. Then there are some office visits that were even dated on Sunday.”
Other former employees told investigators that McClure told her to change the billing codes from the service actually performed to something with a higher reimbursement rate from Medicare; that Stowell, a nurse practioner, filled out narcotic prescriptions and issue them without a doctor’s knowledge; and that bottles labeled “testosterone” were stored at the clinic on South Plantation Island Drive. The investigative report says Medi M.D. is not licensed to store controlled substances at its clinics.
Medi M.D. employee Sydney Smith said she was fired because she questioned the company’s billing practices.
Investigator Emmanuel Ignacio with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit reported that Medi M.D. had been reimbursed for 21 Medicaid recipients for services provided by Stowell and for 18 Medicaid recipients for services provided by Dr. Lindsay Israel-Gaines on dates in which they were was out of the country.
1 comment:
Yeah he grifted, stiffed, gagged, bamboozled, and left everyone holding the bag. By God this man was a scoundrel.
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