Ohio MD Who Defrauded Residents In 7 E WA Counties Sentenced

An Ohio physician has pled guilty to charges that he conspired to accept kickbacks in connection with a fraudulent telemarketing and medical supply scheme that impacted Washington and other states.

Fifty-one-year-old Thomas Andrew Webster was given a sentence of 24 months in federal custody, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $839,566.44. He was also fined $50,000.

Court documents say that during a medical residency in Olympia from May 2021 to September 2023, Webster established a bogus company that used telemarketing to collect personal and health information from Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries in Eastern Washington and beyond.

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He then used the data to fabricate medical records and create fraudulent orders for durable medical equipment, which his bogus company then sold to other companies, which used them to falsely bill Medicare and TRICARE.

Robert Curry with the U.S. Attorney's Office says Webster's scam impacted residents in Adams, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Lincoln, and Okanogan Counties.

Webster's fraudulent activities resulted in Medicare and TRICARE paying more than $14.6 million for equipment ordered for over ten thousand beneficiaries, including some who were billed despite being amputees.

Webster admitted to receiving at least $839,565 from fraudulent billings, and United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke also ordered the forfeiture of funds from Webster's accounts representing proceeds from his criminal activities.

The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Seattle Field Office and Defense Criminal Investigative Service's Western Field Office. Assistant United States Attorney Dan Fruchter prosecuted the case, with Assistant United States Attorney Brian M. Donovan handling the forfeiture action.