3 Are Arrested After Workers’ Comp Raids
Two Los Angeles County chiropractors and a medical clinic owner were arrested Thursday for allegedly billing workers’ compensation insurers for treatment of “patients” with bogus injuries.
Officials from the state Department of Insurance and the Orange County district attorney’s office made the arrests after morning raids of the homes of chiropractor Edgar Eduardo Esparza, 28, of Downey; chiropractor Franco Wilfredo Gamboa, 46, of Diamond Bar; and clinic owner Hilda Ramona Fernandez, 61, of La Canada Flintridge.
Grand jury indictments were issued for the arrests, part of a stepped-up effort by state officials to crack down on workers’ comp fraud.
Esparza and Gamboa are charged with 12 felony counts. The two face up to seven years and four months in prison and $200,000 in fines if convicted.
Separately, law enforcement officials allege that Fernandez, owner of South Gate Medical Clinic, paid undercover officers to refer patients to her clinic, then submitted false billings. Charged with four felony counts, she faces more than seven years in prison and a fine of $160,000.
None of the three could be reached for comment.
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