Nassau Nurse Swept Up In Massive Health Care Fraud Take Down

SEAFORD, NY — A Seaford nurse has pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing a synthetic opioid from an East Meadow hospital for personal use, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Kevin McMahon, a 31-year-old registered nurse, used his position at Nassau University Medical Center to steal fentanyl, prosecutors said. He was charged with possession of fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, and pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a criminal information.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, the National Institute on Drug Abuse said.

McMahon's charges were part of a coordinated health care enforcement action in the Northeast. In all, 48 people were charged in the schemes involving more than $800 million in bogus claims.

Four other New Yorkers, including two doctors, a pharmacist who had lost his license and a pharmacy owner were charged for their participation in schemes to fraudulently bill Medicare and Medicaid programs more than $17 million. They were: Dr. Anna Steiner, 63, of Valatie; Dr. Denny Martin, 46, of New York City; Andrew Barrett, 60, of New City; and Phyllis Pincus, 58, of New City.

Steiner is a licensed anesthesiologist accused in a $17.4-million health care fraud scheme in which kickbacks were given in exchange for prescription drugs, durable medical equipment and diagnostic tests that weren't medically necessary. Steiner was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud last week.

Martin is a licensed neurologist who owned AM PM Medical P.C. He was charged with health care fraud for his role in a scheme to falsely bill Medicare for treatments that were never performed.

For four years beginning in 2015, Martin's company submitted more than 3,000 phony Medicareclaims for home health and podiatry visits, prosecutors said. He was arrested Thursday morning and appeared in federal court in Brooklyn that same day.

Barrett, a pharmacist who was previously convicted of health care fraud and barred from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and Pincus, the sole proprietor of two New York pharmacies, were indicted earlier this week on charges of health care fraud, false claims and conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting bogus claims to Medicare and Medicaid for drugs that were never given to patients.

"As alleged, defendants charged in the Eastern District of New York used fraud and deceit to steal Medicaid and Medicare funds meant to protect our elderly and most vulnerable residents," Richard Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release. "As this initiative demonstrates, we will continue to bring to justice those that defraud our nation's health care programs."

Brian Benczkowski, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal division,said doctors and other medical professionals who fraudulently bill federal health care programs are stealing from taxpayers and "robbing vulnerable patients of necessary medical care."

"The medical professionals and others engaging in criminal behavior by peddling opioids for profit continue to fuel our nation's drug crisis," he said.