LITH Man Among Dozens Charged With Health Care Fraud

A 41-year-old Lake in the Hills man is among dozens charged throughout the nation this past week in federal health care fraud cases.

Andrew Carr, a licensed chiropractor from LITH, was arrested Friday morning. He is accused of submitting claims to insurance companies for chiropractic services he never actually offered, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation press release.

Carr operated various chiropractic businesses in the Chicago suburbs over the past six years.

Carr is charged with one count of health care fraud and made his initial court appearance on Friday afternoon. . If convicted of health care fraud, Carr faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

14 Charged in Chicago Area

Besides Carr, 13 other health care professionals face fraud charges as part of a nationwide takedown by the FBI. In total, 111 were arrested throughout the U.S. for their participation in Medicare fraud scheme.

Nine of the defendants in the Chicago area allegedly worked in the homes health care industry and seven of them are accused of conspiring to violate the criminal anti-kickback statue, which makes it illegal to offer or solicit kickback in exchange for referrals of Medicare patients, according to the news release.

“With this takedown, we have identified and shut down large-scale fraud schemes operating throughout the country. We have safeguarded precious taxpayer dollars. And we have helped to protect our nation's most essential health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid,” said Attorney General Holder in the press release. “As today's arrest prove, we are waging an aggressive fight against health care fraud.”

Task Force for Northern Illinois Announced

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced the formation of the HEAT Strike Force in the Northern District of Illinois.

“Health care fraud has become an increasingly important priority of federal law enforcement in the Chicago area. We are organizing to deploy all of our resources to ensure that dishonest medical providers do not profit from cheating Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers,” Fitzgerald said in the press release.

Speaking particularly of the kickback violations alleged against several defendants in the home health care industry, Fitzgerald said, “paying for Medicare and Medicaid patients is a crime. We are focusing our resources on making sure that those who offer or solicit kickbacks are held accountable by the criminal justice system.”

The details from some of the other Chicago cases include:

Chalice Home Healthcare Services in Chicago, Freeport and Morris

Virgilio Orillo, 68, and Merigrace Orillo, 44, both of Elmhurst, co-owned and operated Chalice Home Healthcare Servies, Inc., with offices in Chicago, Freeport and Morris—a company that provided health care to patients in their homes. They are charged with three counts of health care fraud. The are accused of falsifying documents in order to increase payments Chalice received from Medicare, causing a loss of more than $500,000 to the Medicare program.

Goodwill Home Healthcare, Inc.

Five associated with Goodwill are accused of agreeing to offer, pay, solicit or receive kickbacks for referrals of Medicare patients for home health care services. Marilyn Maravilla, 54, of Chicago; Junjee Arroyo, 42, of Elmurst; Ferdinand Echavia, 37, of Chicago; Kennedy Lomillo, 43, of Mundelein; and Baltazar Alberto, 47, of Morton Grove are all accused as taking part in the Goodwill scheme. According to records seized during a search of Goodwill headquarters, approximately $410,998 in kickbacks were paid to approximately 28 persons for the referral of approximately 912 patients.

 For more on additional charges, visit a story on or the FBI news release.