Owner of treatment clinics sentenced to probation
An East Washington woman was sentenced to probation Wednesday in federal court for running a network of drug treatment clinics, which doled out forged drug prescriptions and illegally submitted claims to Medicaid and Medicare to cover the costs.
Jennifer Hess, 51, received three years of probation – including three months of house arrest – when she appeared before U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab. Hess pleaded guilty May 15 to charges of aiding and abetting unlawful drug distribution and health care fraud.
Schwab also ordered her to pay a $10,000 fine and another $80,000 in restitution.
Hess, the founder and owner of Redirections Treament Advocates, which had locations in Washington and Bridgeville and Weirton, Moundsville and Morgantown in West Virginia. Federal prosecutors said Hess and other staff filled out blank prescriptions for buprenorphine, an opioid that’s sold commercially under the names Suboxone and Subutex. The medication is used to treat addiction because it acts as a blocker for other opioid-family drugs.
A grand jury indicted Hess last year on allegations she had been involved in the unlawful prescriptions and fraudulent payment requests between December 2014 and January 2018.
Her defense lawyer attorney, Martin Dietz, had asked that his client be allowed to avoid time in prison, even if he acknowledged the normal sentencing guidelines called for it.
“The offense of conviction is serious, however, with the blessing of the government, Ms. Hess has made changes in the manner in which Redirections is operated so as not to run afoul of the law,” Dietz wrote in a filing. “She continues to operate and Redirections is providing excellent healthcare to its opioid-addicted patients. She has pled guilty in this case and she has cooperated with the government in its investigation.”
In their own filing, prosecutors recommended a sentence that would be “sufficiently robust” to deter others.
Redirections manager Christopher Handa pleaded guilty. In July, he was sentenced to probation.
Two physicians who were involved with the clinics – Michael Bummer and Madhu Aggarwhal – also received probation. Another, Parth Bharill, pleaded guilty in September and is awaiting sentencing.
In June, two others – Krishnan Aggarwhal, who’s Madhu’s husband, and Cherian John – were acquitted by the federal jury that sat through their trial in Wheeling.