44 indicted in health care fraud and drug distribution case

DETROIT (WXYZ) - US Attorney Barbara McQuade has announced charges against forty-four people in a health care fraud and drug distribution case.

The 13-count indictment is part of a case that involves prescription drugs like OxyContin, Opan and Vicondin. Among the charges filed in the case are money  laundering and felons in possession of firearms.

Among those charged are Sardar Ashrafkhan, Deepak Kumar, John Check and David Vezzossi. Prosecutors say they provided kickbacks, bribes and other illegal benefits to doctors in order to have them write prescriptions for patients with Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.

Prosecutors say those patients were then recruited into the scheme by patient recruiters who would pay kickbacks and bribes to the patients in exchange for the patients' permission to bill their insurance for medications or services that were either unnecessary of never provided.

Prosecutors say the prescriptions were presented to pharmacist Ahab Elmadhoun at Sav-Max, pharmacist Waleed Yaghmour at Sav-Mart, pharmacists Krima Patel and and manager Sanjay Patel at Atrium or pharmacist Jayshriben Gandhi and manager Guarang Gandhi at Caremax for filling.

Prosecutors say many times those prescriptions were either filled without regard for their medical necessity or insurers were billed without the medications being dispensed at all.

The indictment further charges that drugs were distributed and money was laundered as part of the scheme.

Those charged in the indictment are:

• 35-year-old Krina Patel of Shelby Township
• 39-year-old Sanjay Patel of Shelby Township
• 43-year-old Jayshriben Gandhi of Canton
• 39-year-old Guarang Ghandi of Canton
• 40-year-old Ahab Elmadhoun of Canton
• 46-year-old Waleed Yaghmour of Dearborn
• 67-year-old Adelfo Pamatmat of Farmington Hills
• 84-year-old John Geralt of Beverly Hills
• 53-year-old Malik Dababneh of Oxford
• 76-year-old Paul Kelly of Bath
• 42-year-old Ravi Iyer of Novi
• 65-year-old Muhammad Ahmed of Ypsilanti
• 64-year-old Timothy Spencer of Inkster
• 33-year-old Javar Myatt-Jones of Chicago (AKA Dr. Jones)
• 33-year-old Faraj Ghabar of Oregon, OH
• 55-year-old Sardar Ashrafkhan of Warren (AKA Dr. Khan)
• 45-year-old Deepak Kumar of Washington Township
• 44-year-old Mohammad Mian of Oak Park
• 53-year-old John Stephen Check of Dearborn Heights
• 52-year-old David Vezzossi of West Bloomfield
• 52-year-old Frederick Till Jackson of Detroit (AKA Big Fred)
• 45-year-old Tiffany Walker of Detroit (AKA Mary Reed)
• 25-year-old Sierra Walker of Detroit (AKA Tosha)
• 44-year-old Toney Taylor of Detroit
• 35-year-old Jimmy Foster of Detroit
• 32-year-old James Blake of Sterling Heights
• 47-year-old Troy Ivory of Warren
• 32-year-old Jackie Renee Ivory of Ecorse
• 40-year-old Eric Hester of Ionia
• 27-year-old Felicia Jackson of Eastpointe
• 30-year-old Ayesha McCray of Detroti
• 30-year-old Jamall Gibson of Eastpointe
• 34-year-old Alfornia Johnson of Detroit (AKA Con, Alex and ShiCon)
• 33-year-old Phillip Burnett of Detroit (AKA Frank and Frank Burns)
• 23-year-old Ronnie Moses of Detroit (AKA Red)
• 44-year-old Corey Willams of Detroit (AKA CoCo)
• William Ashley Smith of Portsmouth, OH (AKA Cash)
• 25-year-old Robert Scott Dials of Portsmouth, OH
• 26-year-old Cherish Lewis of Wheelersburg, OH
• 24-year-old Willie David Jackson of Eastpointe (AKA Lil' Dave)
• 29-year-old Lance Hatten of Columbus, OH
• 33-year-old Josh Barnes of Wheelersburg, OH
• 31-year-old Nathan Reed of Portsmouth, OH (AKA Reed)
• 30-year-old Garland Holman of Detroit

“The merger of health care fraud and drug trafficking is a disturbing trend that is not only robbing taxpayers, but also fueling addictions to prescription drugs,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade said in a news release. “Prescription drug abuse has become a national epidemic, with more Americans dying from overdoses than from gunshot wounds.”