Palm Beach County Theft & Property Crime Update: South Florida marketer convicted in $15M COVID testing scheme targeting seniors

What happened: A Coral Springs man was convicted Tuesday in a South Florida health care fraud case in which prosecutors said elderly residents seeking COVID-19 tests were subjected to unwanted blood tests that were then billed to Medicare.

Background: A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Joseph Rodriguez, 58, guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rodriguez was a vice president of a testing laboratory and owned Phoenix Health, a marketing company, prosecutors said. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodriguez organized drive-through testing events at residence country clubs in the West Palm Beach area, according to the Justice Department.

Residents signed up for nasal-swab COVID-19 tests and blood antibody tests, but prosecutors said they were also given dozens — and in some cases hundreds — of additional blood tests they neither wanted nor needed. The extra tests included hormone and heavy-metal screenings, authorities said.

Prosecutors said no treating doctor had ordered them, but Medicare claims falsely represented that they were medically necessary and physician ordered. The events were held at nine clubs over about four months and involved nearly 2,000 patients, the Justice Department said.

Medicare was billed more than $15 million and paid more than $500,000.

The available details are limited to the information verified at publication time. Readers should expect updates as the matter develops.

Any person identified in connection with an alleged offense is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Source: official sources including CBS12 News.