DENTIST FACES HEALTH CARE FRAUD CHARGES

Buffalo, N.Y.--A federal grand jury in Buffalo has returned a 9-count indictment charging Scott D. Geise, 45, of Newfane, New York, with theft from an Employee Benefit Plan and False Statements Relating To Health Care Matters, announced U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York. Arraignment is set for July 5, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Moscati stated that the Indictment charges the defendant with assisting another person with submitting a fraudulent claim for health care benefits to the Laborers Local 91 Welfare Fund and with having submitted false claims to health insurance providers for services not actually rendered.

The Indictment was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Gordon S. Heddell, Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Laurie Bennett, the Internal Revenue Service, under the direction of Ann Marie Coons, and the Niagara County Sheriff's Department, under the direction of Thomas Beilein. The evidence was presented to the Grand Jury by AUSA Moscati, who will handle the trial of the case.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.