Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - January 25, 2008
Alexis Dagnesses, 43, was arrested at his Southwest Miami-Dade home and charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud. His bond was set at $250,000.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the scheme worked like this:
Two clinics working with Dagnesses would recruit HIV patients by offering them cash and gift cards. They would draw blood samples and infuse the patients with vitamins to replenish them.
Dagnesses would remove blood samples from the clinics and return them later in the day, significantly altered.
Those samples were then sent to a legitimate lab for analysis, which sent them back indicating the patients had very low platelet counts -- and were sicker than they really were.
The lab reported back that those patients needed certain medications to raise their platelet levels.
The clinics, T&R Rehabilitation Professional Corp. at 4892 NW Seventh St. and American Medical Applications at 1710 NW Seventh St., worked with Dagnesses in billing Medicare for those medications, authorities said.
Just enough medication was kept at the clinics to appear well stocked. The rest was resold on the black market.
When those same patients went to different facilities and doctors not associated with the clinics, their platelet counts came back at higher levels.
The scheme netted the clinics several million dollars from July 2003 to July 2005, according to the FDLE.
Dagnesses allegedly received at least $50,000, investigators said. Records show he is president of two Miami-Dade-based companies: Health and Life Inc. of Southwest Miami-Dade and American Urgent Care Networking of Doral.
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