Somerset Man Sentenced In $430K Medicare Fraud

SOMERSET, NJ — A Somerset County man was sentenced Friday to 50 months in prison for defrauding Medicare out of $430,000 by tricking hundreds of senior citizens to submit to genetic testing, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Seth Rehfuss, 44, of Somerset previously pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Rehfuss admitted that he used a purported non-profit, The Good Samaritans of America, to be able to talk to groups of senior citizens in various low-income senior citizen housing complexes and persuaded them to submit to genetic tests without any involvement of a health care professional, according to documents filed in this case and statements made in court.

Rehfuss allegedly used fear-based tactics during the presentations, including suggesting the senior citizens would be vulnerable to heart attacks, stroke, cancer and suicide if they did not have the genetic testing.

He then recruited health care providers through Craigslist to get the tests authorized even though they never examined or had any interaction with the patients.

Rehfuss and his conspirators, Sheila Kahl and Kenneth Johnson were able to defraud the Medicare program to pay two clinical laboratories out of more than $100,000 for the fake test claims, according to the report.

In addition to the prison term, Rehfuss was sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to pay restitution of $434,963 and forfeiture of $66,844.

Kahl, 47, of Ocean County, previously pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced May 13. Johnson, 39, of Lorton, Virginia, pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced May 20.

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