Federal authorities have charged seven Georgians as part of a batch of several dozen health care-related crime cases announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Altogether the authorities charged 67 people in Georgia and Florida, largely in Miami.
The Georgia charges, according to the Justice Department, included one metro Atlantan, a former hospital employee. That man, Donald Graham of Smyrna, was accused of stealing and selling individually identifiable health information that was then used to submit fraudulent claims to Medicaid.
Attorneys could not be immediately located for Graham and the other defendants.
Brian McEvoy, a defense attorney who was formerly a federal prosecutor of health care crimes and was not contracted with the defendants, said that, “in terms of the money involved and individuals prosecuted, this is one of the largest health care fraud cases ever.”
The other defendants were located further south.
A federal grand jury in Savannah indicted Jenna Savage and Norman Lee Burnsed of Port Wentworth, Tucker Chambers of Ellabell, Macaila Brown of Rincon, and Cameron Hilliard of Savannah with conspiracy charges relating to the distribution of oxycodone, Adderall, alprazolam and clonazepam.
David Williford of Rincon, a pharmacist, was charged with acquiring oxycodone by misrepresentation, fraud or forgery.
Separately, a civil complaint named Darien Pharmacy and pharmacist Janice Ann Colter of Darien as filling prescriptions for controlled substances that the defendants allegedly knew or should have known were not issued for legitimate medical reasons, and by a provider not acting with the regular course of professional practice.
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