Eight Miami-Area Nurses Sentenced for Medicare Fraud

Feds say $103 million in fraudulent claims have been submitted of late in Miami-Dade County alone

They aren't the kind of dirty nurses found in costume shops, but eight Miami-area RNs will soon be wearing stripes.

The five women and three men were each sentenced to prison Friday for their roles in scheming $18.7 million dollars from Medicare by billing for unnecessary home health care services. Each had pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

The nurses had owned ABC Home Health and Florida Home Health Care Provider, two home health agencies through which they falsified patient files for Medicare beneficiaries to make it appear those individuals qualified for benefits and required treatments the co-conspirators knew were not needed.

Diana Sanabia, 36, Roberto Rodriguez, 44, and Daisy Santos, 43, were each sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution between $594,000 and $699,000.

Marlene Magadan, 36, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to repay $334,200 in restitution; Maria Perez, 49, 18 months and $180,600; Alberto Alvarez, 55, 15 months and $101,800; licensed practical nurses Yanisley Chao, 32, and Leonardo Malagon, 40, received sentences of fives months and were orded to pay restitutions just under $70,000.

Two other members of the scheme were charged. Longtime Flagami general practitioner Dr. Jorge Dieppa is awaiting a February trial on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of false statements for writing 300 unnecessary prescriptions, while 76-year-old Alfredo Zayas was sentenced to two years' probation for accepting kickbacks in exchange for running falsified claims through his Medicare number.

The group's indictments were part of an organized crackdown in major cities including Miami, where 25 suspects were arrested on a day that marked the the biggest sting on fraudsters since Medicare began in 1965. Altogether, about $103 million in fraudulent bills were submitted to Medicare from Miami-Dade County alone.

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