East Texas Ambulance Company Owner Sentenced to Federal Prison

NEWS RELEASE FROM UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE:

TYLER, TX -- United States Attorney John Ratcliffe announced today that a 47-year-old Forney man has been sentenced to 97 months in federal prison for health care fraud in the Eastern District of Texas.

ANURA ANDRADI and his ambulance company, Doctor's Ambulance Service, LLC, aka Doctor's Ambulance Service Corp. were sentenced by United States District Judge Michael Schneider today after previously being found guilty by a jury of 40 counts of health care fraud.

According to information presented in court, from March 2004 to December 2005, Andradi and Doctor's Ambulance Service defrauded Medicare and the Texas Medicaid program by certifying that dialysis patients met the Medicare and Medicaid guidelines for ambulance transports, when in fact, they did not. The jury also found that Andradi and Doctor's Ambulance Service obtained $750,000 from the fraudulent scheme and that five ambulances and over $220,000 seized from various bank accounts were derived from the proceeds fraudulently obtained by the defendants. Andradi was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,710,015. Doctor’s Ambulance Service was placed on probation for 5 years and ordered to pay restitution of $2,710,015.

MAULIE HAPPAWANA, 46, of Plano, and RON PYATT, 39, of Grand Prairie, were also sentenced for their roles in the health care fraud scheme. Happawana and Pyatt previously pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. From March 2004 to December 2005, Happawana and Pyatt defrauded Medicare and the Texas Medicaid program by certifying that dialysis patients met the Medicare and Medicaid guidelines for ambulance transports, and, in fact, they did not. Happawana was placed on probation for 5 years and ordered to pay restitution of $54,808.57. Pyatt was placed on probation for 3 years, with 180 days of home confinement, and ordered to pay restitution of $12,553.74.

Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Terri L. Hagan and Kevin McClendon prosecuted the case.