A Wisconsin-based dentist has been convicted of purposefully breaking his patients’ teeth in order to charge them for fixes and collect insurance money!
According to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin , Scott Charmoli was found guilty of five counts of health care fraud and two counts associated with making false statements related to health care matters. In a news release published last week, they shared:
“The evidence presented at trial established that Scott Charmoli engaged in a years-long scheme to defraud dental insurance companies into paying for unnecessary crown procedures. ”
Seriously?!
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The office went on to explain that this scheme began in 2015 when Charmoli began to allegedly lie to his patients to convince them to schedule a crown procedure — when in reality, they had no need with regard to the operation:
“ The evidence showed that will, beginning in 2015, Charmoli started to aggressively sell patients on the particular need for crown procedures. After convincing patients they needed crowns, Charmoli intentionally broke his patients’ teeth with his drill and took pictures and X-rays of the damage he caused. ”
Scott, who lives within Grafton, Wisconsin, would then send these photos to insurance companies to collect additional money, but those organizations were under typically the assumption that the damage depicted inside the photos and X-rays was done BEFORE the crown procedure took place (rather than during). The statement continued:
“Insurance companies assumed that those images of damage represented this pre-operative condition of the tooth, and as a result, paid the claims. Many of Charmoli’ s patients also paid significant co-pays for these crown procedures. ”
Throughout an investigation, authorities discovered that Charmoli billed more than $4. 2 million for crown procedures from 2016 to 2019! Whoa! It’ s a bit unclear how much money came from insurance companies versus the patients themselves, but either way, a lot of people got scammed out of a LOT of cash!
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They also insisted that more than 700 procedures took place annually from 2015 to 2019. If that seems like a lot, it’ h because it is! The press release claimed the 61-year-old has been in the top percentile regarding those who performed crowns, adding:
“[He performed] far more crowns than most dentists in Wisconsin, ranking in, or above, the 95th percentile of crowns performed throughout each year from 2016 to 2019, according to data from just one insurance company. ”
That should have been the red flag, right??
In December, the medical professional was indicted by a federal jury on multiple accounts involving health care fraud. He is expected back in court for a new sentencing hearing on June 17. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years around prison for every charge!
Can U believe this?! Just another reason to avoid often the dentist. LOLz! Let us know your thoughts in the comments (below).
[Image via Movieclips/ YouTube ]
The post Dentist Convicted Of Breaking Patients' Teeth & Collecting More Than $4 MILLION In Copays & Insurance Charges! appeared first on Perez Hilton .