A Vero Beach Acupuncturist is in need of an Indian River County criminal defense lawyer following her arrest on charges of fraud and racketeering. The arrest, which took place at a Vero Beach office, was the result of a two-year investigation into the billing practices of the 56-year-old acupuncturist after county officials became suspicious.

The official charges that have been lodged against the woman are fraud for an amount more than $50,000, filing a false insurance claim for an amount more than $100,000, brokering patients, waiving co-pays and deductibles for patients illegally, and racketeering.

The acupuncturist is currently in the Indian River County Jail where she is being held without bail.

County officials say that a clinic owned by the woman collected more than $1.2 million dollars in claims from the county in 2016. This number earned the clinic the distinction of being the second highest earning provider of services for individuals taking part in the county health insurance plan. The number also drew the suspicion of numbers crunchers for the county due to the fact that it represented a four-fold increase in billing for the clinic over a four year period.

A subsequent investigation on the part of a Director of Human Resouces for the county determined that the acupuncturist illegally waived copays to encourage patients to patronize her business and then offset the cost of doing so by overbilling the county for the services she performed.

The discovery caused the county to establish controls that will no longer allow more than 26 visits in a calendar year to an acupuncturist and limits the reimbursement claims from acupuncturist to $1500.

No one at the office of the acupuncturist was willing to answer or return calls for comment and no official complaints or notice of disciplinary actions have so far been issued by the Health Department.

The Law Office of Jeffrey H. Garland, P.A. is board certified as a criminal defense lawyer in the state of Florida and has had much success defending the interests of clients that have been charged in these types of cases.

Indian River County fraud attorney Jeffrey Garland has served clients in the Indian River County area since 1981 and has provided them with the highest level of representation possible. If you, a friend, or a loved one are ever subjected to similar treatment by law enforcement and find yourselves in need of an Indian River County criminal defense lawyer contact the Law Office of Jeffrey H. Garland, P.A. at 772.489.2200.