Ill. U.S. Attorney: Franklin County Doctor Sentenced to Federal Prison for Health Care Fraud

BENTON, Illinois, April 6 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois issued the following news release:

A district judge in southern Illinois sentenced a Franklin County doctor to federal prison after he admitted to billing fraudulent insurance claims for profit.

Dr. Lee Peter Bee, 50, formerly of Sesser, Illinois, but now of Fenton, Missouri, was sentenced to five months imprisonment and five months home confinement after he pleaded guilty to two counts of health care fraud. Dr. Bee was also ordered to pay $195,170 in restitution.

"By filing bogus insurance claims, Dr. Bee abused public trust and committed fraud for personal profit," said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. "His crimes earned him time in federal prison and may serve as a warning for other medical professionals considering the same."

According to court documents, Dr. Bee practiced osteopathic medicine and operated a private clinic in Sesser, Illinois. Between January 2015 and January 2020, Dr. Bee billed Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for medical services he did not perform. As a result, Dr. Bee fraudulently received payments from insurers totaling at least $195,170.

"Physicians and other medical professionals who submit materially false claims to Medicare and other health insurance programs for financial gain do so with a disregard for their patients and the oath they swore to uphold," said Mario M. Pinto of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. "Our agency, collaborating closely with law enforcement partners, will continue to work diligently to ensure that those who defraud our federal health care programs are held accountable."

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General led the investigation with assistance from the Illinois Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Illinois State Police, the FBI, the Department of Labor, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Defense and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zoe J. Gross prosecuted the case.

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Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdil/pr/franklin-county-doctor-sentenced-federal-prison-health-care-fraud