Dr. Americo Oms-Rivera, 67, was sentenced to five years probation by District Judge Francisco A. Besosa for conspiracy to commit electronic fraud, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, Federal Prosecutor for the District of Puerto Rico .
Oms-Rivera pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit electronic fraud on October 23, 2020.
As part of the sentence imposed, Oms-Rivera will pay $ 321,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and a $ 7,500 fine to be paid in 60 days. Oms-Rivera will also lose property at Harbor Lights Estate in Palmas De la Mar, Humacao; will deliver your DEA license and will be excluded from participating in SSA, Medicare, Medicaid, and all other federal health care benefit program case assessments.
The facts go back to August 2016, when a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a formal indictment of 16 charges accusing Dr. Oms-Rivera, its secretary Mayte González Muñoz and Francisco Cabrera Alvarado, an ex-member of the Social Security Administration (SSA), for fraud in the application process for SSA disability insurance benefits in Puerto Rico.
González-Muñoz and Cabrera Alvarado pleaded guilty in March 2017. As part of this scheme, Oms-Rivera admitted to having put past dates in the medical records of patients claiming disability insurance benefits at the ‘create fictitious medical appointments that were never carried out. This was done to create the appearance of a longer history of medical treatment and for the purpose of deceiving the SSA into approving the benefits of disability insurance.
SSA provides monetary benefits to workers with severe long-term disabilities, who have worked in an occupation covered by SSA for a required period of time.
“This defendant abused the trust placed in him as a professional for personal gain. We thank our law enforcement partners for their excellent efforts and firm commitment to this case,” the Federal prosecutor said. Muldrow.
“This ruling reflects years of work by our investigators and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to stop this plan of defrauding taxpayers and holding culprits accountable,” Inspector General Ennis said. “We will continue to uphold the integrity of SSA’s disability programs by aggressively seeking out facilitators in the claims process who abuse the trust placed in them.”
Special Deputy Federal Prosecutor Vanessa D. Bonano-Rodriguez of the Social Security Administration will be in charge of processing the case.
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