Jodie Fleischer at WSB-TV in Atlanta revealed today just how extensive authorities in Georgia believe the insurance fraud was at Scientology’s Atlanta drug rehab center.
State and county law enforcement officials raided Narconon Georgia on April 26 and hauled away a truckload of documents and computer equipment. As the coordinated local news team of WSB Radio, WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been reporting, state regulators yanked the facility’s license (pending appeal) and now are investigating Narconon for both insurance and credit card fraud.
In the affidavit for the search warrants that law enforcement officers were armed with, we can see just how extensive the false billing of doctors is suspected to be.
In the affidavit, Special Agent Kevin Kearney, with the state’s Department of Insurance, explains that Narconon was billing in the name of two physicians — Lisa Robbins and Casey Locarnini — each of whom deny that they ever gave Narconon permission to bill under their names.
But from the end of 2009 to the beginning of this year, Narconon Georgia billed Blue Cross $1,390,815 (Blue Cross paid $577,783.65), and billed United HealthCare $1,599,824 (UHC paid $570,600.61). That’s a total of $2,990,639 in billing.
Earlier, it had been reported that for one patient, Emily Morton, UHC had been billed about $166,000. Now the sheer extent of the alleged wrongdoing is on another level.
Here’s the affidavit itself.
Narconon Georgia Search Warrant Affidavit
WSB Radio reporter Pete Combs also posted his story on the affidavit, saying: “District Attorney Porter said investigators are now ‘in the analysis phase’ of their investigation, one he said his office is ‘actively and vigorously pursuing’.”
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 9, 2013 at 17:30
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