Ex-Ocean City School Worker Sentenced For Health Care Scheme

OCEAN CITY, NJ — A former maintenance worker for Ocean City schools was sentenced Tuesday to prison for defrauding New Jersey state health benefits programs. James Wildman and Richard McAllister, a former Pleasantville teacher, received 37 to 46 months in prison for their roles in the scheme.

They previously pleaded guilty to separate charges on conspiring to commit health care fraud. The conspiracy centers around compound medications — specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient.

Wildman and McAllister recruited people from 2015-16 to obtain expensive and medically unnecessary compound medications from Louisiana pharmacy Central Rexall Drugs Inc., according to authorities.

Members of the conspiracy learned that certain compound prescriptions — including pain, scar, antifungal, and libido creams, as well as vitamin combinations — were reimbursed for up to thousands of dollars for a one-month supply. The conspirators also noticed that some New Jersey state and local government and education employees — including teachers, firefighters and state troopers — had insurance coverage for these medications.

Wildman and McAllister recruited others in the public education system to participate in the scheme. The prescriptions were faxed to Central Rexall.

The conspiracy resulted in more than $50 million in fraudulent insurance claims for compound medications that weren't medically necessary, authorities said. That included $4.8 million for prescriptions submitted by Wildman and his cohorts and $3.4 million for those submitted by McAllister and his cohorts.

Wildman and McAllister received $650,000 and $450,000, respectively, for the scheme.

Judge Robert B. Kugler also sentenced them to three years each of supervised release. McAllister must pay $3.4 million in restitution and forfeit $456,806. Wildman must pay $4.86 million and forfeit $657,040.

Several people have been implicated or indicted in Central Rexall's alleged scheme. CEO Hayley Taff pleaded guilty Aug. 12 to health care fraud conspiracy. Executives Christopher Kyle Johnston, Trent Brockmeier and Christopher Casseri were indicted Sept. 16 for conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft and money laundering charges.

A federal grand jury returned a 16-count indictment Sept. 10 against a pharmaceutical rep from Bayville and a physician with several medical offices in Ocean County for several alleged schemes associated with Central Rexall. Read more: Pharma Rep From Berkeley, Doctor Charged In $2.5M Scheme

Click here to get Patch email notifications on this or other local news articles or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our app. Download here. Follow Ocean City Patch on Facebook. Have a news tip? Email josh.bakan@patch.com.