LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A hospital owner and an accomplice were arrested Wednesday and charged with bilking the California health care system with reimbursement claims for fake care and treatment to homeless people, state authorities said.
The 21-count indictment alleges that Rudra Sabaratnam and Estill Mitts, both 64, conspired to recruit homeless people to receive unnecessary health services for the purpose of committing health care fraud.
The homeless people were recruited from "Skid Row" with promises of payments, it added.
The hospital and the admitting physician submitted claims to Medicare, the (federal health service for the poor) and Medi-Cal (California's equivalent) for services that were not needed and, in some case, were never performed, according to the indictment.
Sabaratnam, owner and top executive of a hospital, could face 50 years in prison if found guilty on all charges, and Mitts, the operator of a Skid Row assessment center, could face 140 years in prison.
Police said more arrests could be made in the case since the investigation is ongoing and several other California hospitals are suspected of involvement in the scheme.
Some 73,000 of Los Angeles' 10 million inhabitants are homeless, according to the latest census figures.
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