Dr. Mencia ran the Adult and Geriatric Institute in Oakland Park, Fla., according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). He and three of his staff were arrested in February of this year.
The four stood accused of running a “pill mill” since January of 2015. They held sham consultations with patients, prescribed them opioids, and then fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid, prosecutors said
The Sun Sentinel, a Florida newspaper, reports that those prescriptions amounted to 1.2 million doses.
Patient reviews of Dr. Mencia echoed the charges, with a number posting concerns online about false charges to their insurance companies even before 2015.
“My insurance company is conducting an investigation for bogus charges,” wrote one in December 2014.
Dr. Mencia was fined $250,000, and sentenced to three years in prison. The three arrested with him also received prison sentences.
Earlier this summer, the DOJ announced charges against 601 people, doctors among them, for collectively defrauding the US healthcare system of $2 billion, often in ways that contributed to the opioid epidemic.
