The owner of a medical supply company accused of billing Medicare millions, sometimes using the names of dead beneficiaries, was arrested in Miami last week after arriving in the United States from Cuba.
According to officials, investigators arrested Cuban national Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez on October 9 as his flight from Cuba landed in Miami. He is charged with 14 counts of health care fraud for running a scheme that resulted in more than $2.5 million in undue Medicare payments.
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Florida FBI officials, Justice Department investigators and members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General all contributed to the investigation and the arrest.
Rodriguez, 47, was initially charged in 2013 for the alleged fraud.
According to investigators, Rodriguez was the president and owner of G.R. Services and Equipment and Supplies, a supplier of durable medical equipment. Under his leadership, officials say, Rodriguez billed Medicare for $2.57 million in reimbursements between May and July 2013 for medical equipment that was never prescribed by a doctor and never delivered to patients. Even worse, officials allege Rodriguez sought thousands in reimbursements for patents that had actually died in 2010.
Official have already seized $243,000 from the bank account of G.R. Services.
President Barack Obama in July reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba. While the trade embargo and restriction on commercial flights are still in effect, charter flights between the two countries began shortly after the announcement.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly