( HOUSTON , Texas )—Charles Frank Skripka Jr., 66, of Houston , was sentenced to 78 months in prison for his role in a far-reaching scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $21 million, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At a hearing this morning, Judge Vanessa Gilmore sentenced Skripka to a 78-month prison term for each of his 10 convictions for health care fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, with all prison terms to run concurrently. Skripka was also sentenced to three years supervised release upon the completion of his prison term and was found to be liable for restitution to Medicare in the amount of $6,562,186.

A federal jury in Houston returned the guilty verdict in October 2006, convicting Skripka; Jayshree Patel, M.D., 63; Pius James Ekiko, 44; and David Dennis Brown, 48, of health care fraud for their roles in the fraudulent scheme, which involved several tiers of illegal conduct. Skripka was the last of the five convicted defendants to be sentenced. Patel was sentenced in October 2007 to 78 months imprisonment and ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution, while Ekiko and Brown were each sentenced to 87 and 80 months imprisonment, respectively. Harold Horatio Iyalla aka “Prince Yellowe,” who cooperated with the United States and testified against the remaining co-defendants, received a sentence of 50 months imprisonment.

The scheme involved the payment of kickbacks by Durable Medical Equipment (DME) companies to recruiters, who solicited Medicare beneficiaries to acquire motorized wheelchairs. Recruiters referred and transported beneficiaries to physicians to secure a false or fraudulent Certificate of Medical Necessity (CMN) that DME companies would use to bill Medicare for a motorized wheelchair.

The evidence at trial established that Skripka and Patel had been hired solely to authorize motorized wheelchairs for Medicare beneficiaries who clearly did not meet the Medicare guidelines to receive such a device. Skripka and Patel routinely approved wheelchairs for as many as 30 to 80 patients a day without performing a physical examination or ordering any medical tests. Recruiters such as Brown solicited Medicare beneficiaries with the promise of free scooters and the payment of $50 to see Doctors Skripka and Patel. Brown recruited patients from Louisiana and transported them 350 miles to Houston to see the physicians.

DME companies, such as Ekiko’s Horizon Medical Supply and Yellowe’s First Choice Medical, then paid the doctor’s office $200 per fraudulent prescription and CMN, while paying Brown and other recruiters as much as $1,000 per patient in order to be able to supply the equipment to the beneficiary and thus be able to bill Medicare for that particular beneficiary. Suppliers such as Ekiko would then use the fraudulent prescription and CMN to bill Medicare for a motorized wheelchair, but would instead deliver the significantly less expensive scooter to the beneficiary. Medicare paid suppliers approximately $4,200 per wheelchair, while the scooters that were actually provided were only paid at a rate of $1,600 per scooter.

The evidence at trial showed that Skripka’s certifications of beneficiaries for motorized wheelchairs resulted in fraudulent billings to Medicare of more than $10 million. With Skripka’s sentencing, the punishment assessed against the five defendants in these convictions totals more than 380 months imprisonment and more than $18 million ordered in restitution to the United States.

The criminal conviction is the result of a joint investigation conducted by agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—Office of Inspector General, the FBI and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Al Balboni and Jason Varnado.