A Vacaville nurse is among the hundreds of people arrested in the massive nationwide health care fraud “takedown” announced this week by the Department of Justice.
Clinton Johnson Christian, 38, was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco on seven counts of tampering with a consumer product with reckless disregard for risk to another and seven counts of obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation.
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He is one of five defendants charged in connection with allegations that they defrauded Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs and illegally diverted drugs. And all are part of a strategically coordinated, nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and illegal drug diversion schemes that involved the submission of over $14.6 billion in alleged false billings and more than 15 million pills of illegally diverted controlled substances, according to United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, who announced the Northern District indictments.
In a press release, Missakian alleged the five defendants charged in the Northern District, which stretches from Del Norte County in the north to Monterey County in the south, defrauded programs “entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets.” He said the government, in connection with the takedown, seized more than $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other assets.
In Christian’s case, the government alleges he tampered with medication “intentionally obtaining controlled substances through deception and subterfuge” and then diverted it “for his personal use.”
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The U.S. Attorney declined comment on where the alleged crimes occurred but Christian’s social media accounts list him as a registered nurse at Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center, which has multiple campuses in San Francisco. The indictment, which initially indicated Christian was a resident of Fairfield, alleges that he would access a machine that held hydromorphone, a powerful opioid pain medicine used to manage moderate to severe pain. It is a potent schedule II drug, meaning it has a high potential for misuse and addiction. Christian, the indictment says would falsely claim the opioid was needed for a patient. H would then remove a vial of hydromorphone, extract the drug and then re-fill the vial with saline before “replacing the vial and cancelling the patient’s order,” according to the indictment.
Christian’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan U. Lee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District.
“Fraud and abuse in our health care system all too often result in harm to the elderly and sick and a loss to the American taxpayer,” Missakian said in the press release. “The five cases announced today reflect the far-reaching impact of health care fraud and my office’s commitment to prosecuting schemes that target these vital programs.”
The other four indicted in the Northern District include:
- Vincent Thayer, 41, of San Jose, who is charged by indictment with wire fraud, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with a $68 million medical office visit scheme.
- Sevendik Huseynov, 47, a national of Azerbaijan currently residing in Sunnyvale, and the owner and CEO of Vonyes, Inc. in Sunnyvale, who is charged by criminal complaint and arrested on June 26, on allegations that he committed health care fraud through a scheme to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare Advantage Organizations on behalf of unsuspecting beneficiaries for durable medical equipment.
- Dr. Yasmin Pirani, 46, of British Columbia, Canada, who is charged by indictment with health care fraud and false statements related to health care matters in connection with a $35.2 million telemedicine fraud scheme, in which he is accused of signing prescriptions for Durable Medical Equipment that was medically unnecessary, for Medicare beneficiaries with whom she lacked a pre-existing doctor-patient relationship, without a physical examination, and without any conversation with the beneficiary or based solely on a short telephonic conversation.
- Patrick Omeife, 33, of Ghana, who is charged by indictment with two counts of concealment money laundering in connection with a scheme to launder approximately $33,765 that was fraudulently disbursed from a federal COVID-19 relief program and intended for an optometrist whose identity had been stolen.