Sunshine Pharmacy owner sentenced to prison for health care fraud

March 31--FORT MYERS -- Del Parrish was sentenced Monday afternoon to two years in prison for committing health care fraud through his former pharmacy chain, Sunshine Pharmacy. He also will serve two years afterward on supervised release and must get substance abuse treatment.

He reports to prison by May 16 unless the federal prison system gives him another reporting date.

His mother, 74-year-old Patricia Parrish, who handled billing at Sunshine, was given three years of probation. However, she must remain confined to her home for 120 days, wearing an electronic monitoring device.

U.S District Judge John E. Steele handed down the sentences Monday afternoon after considering motions by their attorneys for leniency.

The Parrishes declined comment after the sentencing.

Both were ordered to pay restitution to the government totaling $351,358.14, which federal officials described as the proceeds of the crime. The amount was paid in full immediately after the sentencing, federal officials said.

As part of the plea agreement, Del Parrish permanently relinquished his pharmacist license in Florida, federal officials said.

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Posted earlier

Del Parrish is to be sentenced Monday afternoon for committing health care fraud through his former pharmacy chain, Sunshine Pharmacy.

His mother, 74-year-old Patricia Parrish, who handled billing at Sunshine, also is to be sentenced.

U.S District Judge John E. Steele is handing down the sentences Monday afternoon after considering motions by their attorneys for leniency. The Parrishes entered guilty pleas in November to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Starting in 2009, they billed Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare, the military insurance program, for medications that were never dispensed. Del Parrish, 45, has been on home confinement since they were both arrested May 14, 2013.

Del Parrish's recommended sentence was 24 to 30 months and his mother's recommended sentence was 18 to 24 months.

Del Parrish became addicted to alcohol and prescription medication and became completely dysfunctional and unable to run the business, his attorney, Yale Freeman, said in a motion for leniency. His mother, who witnessed her youngest son's drug abuse, began filing false billings to shore up the failing business, according to her Coral Springs attorney, Jane Raskin.

Part of their plea agreement last year included joint restitution of $351,358, and they were expected to turn a check for that amount over to the court Monday.

Return to naplesnews.com later today for more on this developing story

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