Washington Blade - September 29, 2006

MIAMI - Two Miami-Dade County men were arrested Sept. 6 for allegedly defrauding the Medicare system out of $1.4 million in an elaborate scheme that involved altering the blood samples of HIV patients to make it appear that they needed expensive medications. Luis Modesto de la Vega and Roy Canizares are accused of recruiting HIV patients to provide blood samples by offering them cash and Publix gift cards, the arrest affidavit says. The defendants then sent the blood samples to a lab, where co-conspirators allegedly altered the samples to make it appear that the patients were seriously ill and needed treatment with expensive "infusion drugs," according to the arrest affidavit. The defendants then billed Medicare for the unnecessary HIV medications, the affidavit says. The patients were not actually given the drugs. Instead, they were injected with vitamins, the affidavit says. "They stole money that could have been used to help people who need medical treatment," said JoAnn Carrin, a spokesperson for the Florida Attorney General's office.

Chicago AIDS activist gets 15 years in cabdriver's death

CHICAGO (AP) - An AIDS activist and former city of Chicago health department employee was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for running over a cabdriver with his own taxi. Cook County Circuit Court Judge James M. Schreier sentenced Michael Jackson after a hearing that lasted several hours. With credit for good behavior, Jackson, 38, could be released in seven to eight years, according to Cook County state's attorney spokesperson Marcy O'Boyle. A jury found Jackson guilty last month of second-degree murder in the death of Haroon Paryani, 62, but acquitted him of first-degree murder and aggravated criminal hijacking charges. Jackson was accused of running over Paryani last year during a dispute about an $8 cab fare. Witnesses said Jackson drove the cab over Paryani three times. Defense attorneys had argued that Paryani was hostile and Jackson got behind the wheel of the cab because he feared for his life. Jackson was a specialist with the city Department of Public Health's division on sexually transmitted diseases. He was also founder and former president of the Hearts Foundation, which raises money to help AIDS patients.

3 sentenced for beatings at San Diego Gay Pride

SAN DIEGO - Three men who brutally beat six men with a baseball bat and a knife as they left Gay Pride festivities were sentenced Sept. 15, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. James Carroll, 24, received 11 years in prison. Lyonn Tatum, 18, got eight years; and Kenneth Lincoln, 24, received 32 months. All three pleaded guilty last week in San Diego Superior Court during a hearing in which three of the victims testified. They were charged with stalking and attacking the men individually as they left the San Diego LGBT Pride Festival in Balboa Park on July 29, while yelling anti-gay slurs. Prosecutors said the attacks were hate crimes but the defendants' attorneys argued they were part of an "alcohol-based rampage," the paper reported. One victim was beaten so brutally that almost every bone in his face was broken and he nearly died, a doctor testified.

Trans woman's killer gets life for 2003 stabbing

LARGO, Fla. - William McHenry, 37, received a life sentence Sept. 18 for stabbing to death a transgender woman after the two left a Clearwater nightclub, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Lucas McCauley left Club Z109 with McHenry on Dec. 6, 2003, authorities said, and McHenry killed McCauley once the two arrived at McCauley's home. The Times reported McCauley, 30, was a "transgender man" but went on to report that McCauley frequented Club Z109, a club popular with gays and transgender people, dressed as a woman and going by the name Reshae, indicating McCauley was a transgender woman. "This was a particularly heinous crime," said Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi, who according to the paper had "considered the murder a possible hate crime." McCauley's mother, Kim McCauley, discovered the body the next night.

Students arrested for sit-in protest of military's gay ban

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Nine young people affiliated with the gay rights group Soulforce were charged with second-degree trespassing after they staged a sit-in Sept. 21 at an Army recruiting station here, the Greensboro News & Record reported. Four local students applied for service but were denied because they are openly gay. The U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibits the military from asking recruits if they are gay, but also bans service by those who have self-identified as gay or lesbian. Three of the four recruits, as well as six other protesters, were arrested when they refused to leave the recruiting office

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