Yuba City doctor indicted – Medicare fraud
A Yuba City doctor has been linked to an alleged $1.3 million Medicare scam.
Dr. Irving J. Schwartz was arrested on Tuesday by federal agents and arraigned in US District Court in Sacramento, the US Attorney's Office confirmed Wednesday.
Schwartz was released the same day on a $75,000 bail bond, according to US Justice Department spokeswoman Lauren Horwood.
Agents reportedly searched Schwartz's Yuba City office in the 400 block of Queens Avenue on Tuesday.
The general practitioner was back in his Yuba City office on Wednesday, but declined an Appeal-Democrat interview request.
A woman who answered the phone at his office said Schwartz had no comment.
The alleged scam was apparently based in Southern California and investigated by federal agents from the US Attorney's Office in San Diego.
"It was the purpose of the conspiracy for the defendants and their co-conspirators to unlawfully enrich themselves by ... submitting and causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare," the indictment states.
Schwartz is accused of writing dozens of bogus prescriptions for power wheelchairs, primarily in Imperial County, between July 2007 and September 2008.
Schwartz would fly with another man to Southern California and meet with Medicare recipients. He would issue phony power wheelchair prescriptions for patients who didn't need them, according to the indictment.
Schwartz allegedly sold those prescriptions to a buyers for a $300 kickback.
Suspected co-conspirators then submitted the prescriptions to Medicare and claimed reimbursement for $1,355,764, according to the indictment.
Several buyers and at least one other doctor were also involved in the alleged scam.
Schwartz established his practice in Yuba City on Sept. 1, 2007, according to city records.
He became a Medicare provider in 1988, authorities said.
Ken Wood, a spokesman for the state medical board, said the board has received no complaints regarding Schwartz, and said there is no record of any disciplinary action.
Schwartz was ordered to appear July 31 at the federal courthouse in San Diego.
CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at @ADcrimebeat.
