SANTA ANA, Calif. (KNX) — The U.S Justice Department announced Thursday it had filed charges against 10 defendants over the course of the last year for kickback schemes at substance abuse treatment centers across Orange County.
The defendants charged were substance abuse facility owners and patient recruiters who prosecutors alleged provided and received kickbacks for referring patients to such facilities, recovery homes, or laboratories.
Facility owners allegedly assigned value codes to patients depending on the type of insurance they had, then paid patient recruiters kickbacks for each patient referred their way. Recruiters allegedly received recurring payments for each month they continued to forward patients to O.C. facilities.
The defendants charged included Nick Roshdieh, 51, of Aliso Viejo, and Vincent Bindi, 66, of Laguna Niguel, owners of Crest Recovery LLC, doing business as Truvida Recovery; Donald Vawter, 30, of Rancho Santa Margarita — a Truvida employee arrested Thursday for paying and receiving kickbacks.
Casey Mahoney, 45, of Los Angeles, and Joseph Parkinson, 42, formerly of Costa Mesa, were indicted in October on similar charges. According to court documents, Mahoney directed Healing Path Detox LLC and Get Real Recovery Inc., addiction treatment facilities in Orange County, and has been accused of paying roughly $2.7 million in kickbacks to Parkinson and other patient recruiters in exchange for referrals.
Adrian Gonzalez, 37, of Laguna Hills, and owner of Stone Ridge Recovery Inc and Landmark Recovery LLC, was charged in June for paying more than $1 million in kickbacks to patient recruiters.
Darius Moore, 28, formerly of Santa Ana, was indicted in April with kickback conspiracy charges. Moore, also a patient recruiter, allegedly received about $488,500 in kickbacks in exchange for referrals. Another patient recruiter, Dorian Ballough, 30, of Costa Mesa, was charged in July for receiving at least $1.8 million in kickbacks. Kyle Reed, 29, of Huntington Beach, took in about $604,474 in kickbacks, prosecutors said.
Finally, Michael Hislop, 56, of Massachusetts, known to be a patient recruiter who conspired to advance the kickback scheme alongside Truvida owners, and received an unspecified amount in referral fees.
If convicted, Roshdieh and Bindi face a maximum of 65 years in prison. Vawter, Mahoney, and Hislop face a maximum of 35. Moore, Reed, and Ballough face a maximum of 15 years; Gonzalez faces 10; and Parkinson faces 165.
Ballough, Gonzalez, Moore, and Reed have all pleaded guilty.
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