Tustin podiatrist convicted of insurance fraud, sentenced to almost 1 year in prison [The Orange County Register]

A Tustin podiatrist found guilty in February of billing insurance companies for medical services that were never actually done was sentenced to almost a year in jail, officials said Monday, May 23.

Renae Louise Witt, 42, was sentenced to 364 days in jail followed by two years of probation, Orange County District Attorney’s officials said in a news release. The podiatrist was also ordered to pay restitution to two insurance companies she billed for care she didn’t actually perform.

Witt worked at Tustin Place Medical Group and submitted claims totaling $174,395 for services she claimed to have completed for six different patients between Aug. 28, 2015 and April 3, 2017, OCDA officials said. The insurance companies wound up paying out just over $75,861. When Anthem Blue Cross began an investigation into the suspicious billing, she fabricated medical records.

“This doctor violated that position of trust and used her unsuspecting patients as a revenue stream by bilking insurance companies out of tens of thousands of dollars for work she never performed,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer wrote in a statement Monday.

Witt also faces a 10-year suspension of her medical license, OCDA officials said.

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