A Hampton man was given prison time and ordered to pay restitution for faking the results of allergy tests that doctors had ordered for their patients.
Rahsaan Jackson Garth, 40, pleaded guilty in July to one count of health care fraud for his actions at Polaris Allergy Labs Inc. in East Point. From around September 2012 until February of last year, Garth created fake allergy test results for patients and then had the reports sent back to their doctors. After creating a fake report, Garth caused a bill to be submitted to the patient's health care benefit program, even though no service had in fact been provided, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a news release Friday.
Because he was not actually testing some of the samples, Garth saved money by not using the allergen reagents necessary for testing.
He was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay $246,536.50 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service.
“Garth endangered the health and safety of citizens, including children, by faking their allergy test results and misleading their doctors,” Yates said. “People trust doctors to make decisions that could permanently affect a patient’s health based on those results. Garth put his own financial wealth ahead of people’s health.”
Sometimes Garth created results showing no allergic reaction, and other times he created results showing a reaction, in order to avoid raising the suspicions of the doctors to whom he sent fake reports, Yates said. The doctors were unaware that Garth was sending them fake results, putting their patients at risk.
Doctors and patients potentially affected by Garth’s fraudulent testing activities were notified during law enforcement officials’ investigation.
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