Posted on Sat, Jan. 10, 2004
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Planner of huge fraud given 9 years
Prosecutors say a Redland plant-nursery owner who masterminded a mammoth Medicare fraud will be repaying the U.S. government for the rest of his life.
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
llebowitz@herald.com
A Cuban-born nursery owner who was on the verge of becoming an American citizen will instead spend the next nine years behind bars and the rest of his life repaying the U.S. government $36.5 million he grossed from one of the largest-ever Medicare scams.
Alfredo Omar Rodriguez, 38, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and conspiracy charges in September.
''I am sorry,'' Rodriguez said. ``I never believed I could have done something like this. I know I will have a new life. I thank this country for receiving me and my family.''
Rodriguez masterminded a mammoth operation, overseeing 18 Miami-Dade County medical supply firms that paid off thousands of elderly clients from Hialeah to Little Havana and Virginia Gardens to Kendall who filed bogus claims about bad knees.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7677301.htm