LOS ANGELES – A 78-year-old physician’s assistant was sentenced Monday to three years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare out of millions of dollars by signing fraudulent prescriptions and other medical documents for durable medical equipment while working at two separate medical clinics in the Los Angeles area, officials said.
U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow sentenced Erasmus Kotey, of Montebello and ordered him to pay about $3.5 million in restitution to the Medicare program.
Kotey plead guilty in March to one count of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in two separate cases, officials said.
In a plea agreement, Kotey admitted that he engaged in a scheme to commit health care fraud while working as a physician’s assistant at a clinic in Los Angeles.
A co-conspirator in this scheme was Susanna Artsruni, a North Hollywood woman, was sentenced to over 6 years in prison for causing $25 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare.
In addition to his role in the scheme at the clinic on North Vermont, Kotey admitted that he engaged in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud through his work as a physician’s assistant at a clinic in Monterey Park.
At both clinics, Kotey signed prescriptions and other medical documents for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs and other medical equipment. Using these fraudulent prescriptions, medical equipment supply companies submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Kotey also ordered medically unnecessary diagnostic testing at the North Vermont clinic.
In the two cases combined, Kotey’s fraudulent prescriptions resulted in about $7 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. Medicare paid about $3.5 million on those claims.
Kotey remains free on bond and has been ordered to self-surrender in August 2015 after completing a course of medical treatment.