Man Charged in $7-Million Medi-Cal Fraud

The owner of a pharmaceutical supply company in Valencia has been charged with defrauding Medi-Cal out of $7.2 million through phony billings, one of the largest such cases in the agency’s history, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday.

Charges of grand theft and filing false claims were brought in Los Angeles Superior Court against Roy Pacia, owner of Bruce Pharmacal Inc., on Dec. 28, the day that agents of the state Department of Justice raided the company and three houses owned by Pacia in Valencia, authorities said.

Pacia, however, may have fled the country.

Dennis Cowan, an investigator with the attorney general’s Los Angeles office, said it was one of the largest cases of Medi-Cal fraud encountered by the agency. No other people were named in the criminal complaint, but the investigation is continuing, Cowan said.

Authorities had hoped to continue their investigation into the new year but hurriedly sought arrest warrants on Dec. 28 when they learned Pacia might be preparing to flee, Cowan said.

But by the time investigators and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrived, Pacia had disappeared, Cowan said. Investigators suspect he may have gone to the Philippines, he said.

Cowan said an informant told officials of billing irregularities at the pharmacy, which was licensed to distribute pharmaceuticals.

Between January, 1987, and November, 1990, Cowan said, the company defrauded the state through overbilling, billing the state for products not prescribed by physicians and charging Medi-Cal for products not covered by the state health program.

Meanwhile, the U.S. attorney general’s office on Dec. 19 filed four civil lawsuits to force Pacia to forfeit the company’s office and the three houses, valued at $3.4 million, which the lawsuits allege were purchased with funds obtained through the fraud. Half of Medi-Cal funds come from the federal government.

On Dec. 30, 1988, Pacia purchased the company’s headquarters at 25356 Rye Canyon Road for $2.5 million. According to the lawsuits, Pacia paid part of the amount with $897,369 in checks drawn on company accounts containing funds derived almost entirely from Medi-Cal payments.

The government also has seized houses purchased by Pacia at 24001 Sag Harbor Court, 26038 Tourelle Place and 25582 Novela Way, according to the lawsuits.