An Imperial County dentist and Indio resident, Javad Aghaloo, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison by a federal court for defrauding Medicare and concealing his illicit activities. His former billing manager, Melissa Rosas of Calexico, was given three years of probation for impeding a federal audit.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, Aghaloo and Rosas were accused of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud with the assistance of others. They fraudulently billed Medicare for procedures that were either not covered, not performed or unnecessary. On October 2, 2023, Aghaloo admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit health care fraud while Rosas entered her guilty plea on October 13, 2023.
The press release further revealed that court records indicate Aghaloo and his associates recruited Medicare beneficiaries to undergo dental procedures at one of his two Imperial County dental offices. The practice promoted its dental services as being covered by Medicare despite Aghaloo and his staff’s knowledge that Medicare generally does not cover routine dental procedures. They committed fraud by submitting false claims to Medicare using patients’ beneficiary numbers and misrepresenting the procedures performed—for instance, listing “bone grafts” instead of “tooth extraction.”
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered Aghaloo in the press release to forfeit over $1 million in property bought with money procured through his fraudulent activities. He is also required to repay nearly $8.5 million in restitution to Medicare.
