15 arrested in alleged $18M fraud scheme involving San Marino pharmacy

Fifteen people were arrested today on suspicion of taking part in an elaborate $18-million Medicare fraud scheme that officials say involved a Glendale medical clinic and pharmacy in San Marino.

The scheme involved so-called “prescription harvesting,” in which Manor Medical Imaging Clinic and San Gabriel Valley pharmacies allegedly re-billed the government repeatedly for expensive anti- psychotic medications, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed today.

The scheme caused at least $7.3 million in direct losses to Medicare and Medi-Cal, according to the Department of Justice.

Including one person who was arrested earlier this month, 16 of the people named in the complaint are in custody. Another remains at large, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Huntington Pharmacy owners and Pasadena residents Phic Kaing Lim, 47, and wife Theana Khou, 39, were included in the scheme.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged that prescriptions written by a doctor at a bogus branch of Manor Medical Imaging Clinic were funneled back to pharmacies via a fraudulent drug wholesale company.

Federal authorities said it is the first case involving the use of anti-psychotic drugs to defraud government healthcare programs.

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-- Jason Wells, Times Community News

Twitter: @JasonBretWells

Photo: Owners of a San Marino pharmacy called Huntington Pharmacy were arrested along with 14 other people who who were associated with a Glendale medical clinic. Sixteen people were arrested on criminal charges that related to an $18 million scheme to defraud Medi-Cal and Medicare. Credit: Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff Photographer.