Herald.com | 12/02/2005 | Four arrested in AIDS drug scam

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

jdorschner@herald.com

In what could be the start of a massive crackdown on scams involving HIV/AIDS patients, law enforcement officials announced the arrest of four persons, including two doctors, charged with illegally diverting millions of dollars in drugs.

”Only the tip of the iceberg,” said Michael Clemens, special agent in charge of FBI’s Miami office. Altogether, Clemens estimated crooks are using many different cons to bilk Medicare and Medicaid for about $1 billion a year in South Florida alone.

In one of 12 medical fraud cases announced at a news conference Thursday, Onelio S. Baez was charged with directing patient recruiters, including Juan Carlos Mateo, to ”recruit and pay kickbacks to Medicaid patients to visit certain medical clinics,” federal prosecutors alleged in a statement.