3 Doctors Get Jail Terms in Medi-Cal Fraud Case

Three doctors who admitted filing false Medi-Cal forms each were sentenced Thursday to a year in the Orange County Jail and five years’ probation.

Superior Court Judge Phillip E. Cox in Westminster also ordered that Nguyen Thi Van, 61, of Huntington Beach, Nguyen Nhu Chuong, 49, of San Gabriel and Vuu Nam Tran, 44, of Fullerton make restitution in an amount to be determined by the Probation Department.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Carla Singer said the state had originally charged Van with defrauding Medi-Cal of more than $125,000. She said Tran was charged with defrauding the program of more than $41,000 and Chuong with more than $77,000.

All three men pleaded guilty to single counts of fraud last September and in December were ordered by Cox to report to state prison for 90-day diagnostic examinations. Singer said the examinations, by the state Department of Corrections, produced recommendations that the trio be placed on probation and not be sent to prison.

Singer said prosecutors charged that the three claimed reimbursement for treating patients they never actually saw.

An undercover investigation in Vietnamese communities across the state resulted in the arrests one year ago of 42 people on charges of defrauding Medi-Cal. Subsequent arrests brought the total of doctors, pharmacists, clerks and receptionists charged with fraud to 57. State officials said 33 of them were from Orange County.