Santa Fe cardiologist indicted in scheme to avoid sentencing for Medicare fraud

Sept. 08--A Santa Fe cardiologist who pleaded guilty earlier this year to Medicare fraud has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two new charges in a scheme to avoid or delay his sentencing, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Mexico said in a statement issued Thursday.

A criminal complaint accuses Roy G. Heilbron, 54, of presenting false documents to his federal probation officer, claiming he was receiving chemotherapy in Costa Rica and asking to hold off on the sentencing hearing until his cancer treatment was complete. Federal agents determined the doctor had faked the cancer treatment, court documents say.

If Heilbron is convicted on the two-count indictment, he faces a maximum 15 years in prison on a charge of making false statements and an additional 30 years on a charge of obstructing justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Heilbron in February pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud rather than stand trial on a 24-count indictment that accused him of submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, the federal government's health plan for seniors, and to a private insurance plan, among other crimes. In a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Heilbron agreed to a two-year prison sentence and to pay restitution for all the criminal conduct alleged in the 24 charges -- an amount to be determined at sentencing.

A sentencing hearing was set for Aug. 28. But according to an affidavit by an FBI agent, Heilbron in early August emailed a U.S. probation officer, requesting that the sentencing hearing be postponed until November because he was scheduled to receive chemotherapy treatments for prostate cancer in Costa Rica.

Heilbron said in the email that he did not have health insurance and that the cost of such treatment was cheaper in the Central American country, according to the affidavit.

The doctor also wrote that any delay in treatment, even by a few months, could result in his death, according to the affidavit. He attached documents outlining his treatment plan to the probation officer, purporting he was diagnosed by a "very rare" holistic urologist with offices in Florida and Costa Rica, Dr. Oscar Paniagua.

But the FBI agent wrote that the Florida address Heilbron provided for the doctor was not real, and that a receptionist at the clinic in Costa Rica said no doctor named Oscar Paniagua was listed in its directory.

A doctor by the same name in Texas said Heilbron was never a patient, according to the FBI agent.

The agent also wrote that data on an electronic document detailing Heilbron's treatment protocol showed Heilbron was the author of the file.

The FBI arrested Heilbron in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 19, according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The U.S. Marshals Service is transporting him to New Mexico to face the two new charges and sentencing in the health care fraud case, the statement says.

Contact Justin Horwath at 505-986-3017 or [email protected].

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