Locked doors at sara’s pharmacy and gift corner in mission. A note claims a family emergency closed the store. Pharmacy owner Sara Garza and pharmacy technician Valerie Flores stand accused of federal health care fraud. The two allegedly schemed health care companies out five-hundred thousand dollars! Court records allege Garza and Flores submitted false claims for prescription medicines that were never dispensed. The records allege some medicaid claims were for medicines used to treat health problems patients never had. Garza and Flores are also accused of forging doctors’ and patients’ signatures. Customer Nancy Cordova claims medicaid fraud focus should switch to bigger businesses. Eric Reed has defended several people accused of health care fraud in the valley. He says a simple allegation can cancel one’s ability to provide medicaid services, a big blow to many valley businesses dependent on medicaid money. Reed says authorities are concentrating efforts on the valley. He urges those falsely accused to fight every allegation.
By Kyle Midura Story Published: Sep 30, 2009 at 11:45 PM MDT (Story Updated: Oct 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM MDT ) BILLINGS – More questions Wednesday night in Hardin following revelations that American Police Force’s founder Michael Hilton owns an extensive criminal record. It appears Hilton has been involved in several fraud cases and has even spent six years in a California prison. According to the Associated Press, court documents show that Hilton has .1 million dollars worth of outstanding judgments against him. Records indicate Hilton has multiple aliases, and has twice declared bankruptcy. Fraud cases include luring investors into a fake real estate development project, convincing a couple to give him a silver statue worth 0000 dollars, and pocketing construction funds. Hilton landed a six year prison term in 1993 for a dozen counts of grand theft among other charges. A California doctor who said he was conned by Hilton said he was stunned to learn Hilton was planning a major venture in Montana. “I didn’t even sleep last night because of the memories that it conjured up, he’s the reason I had to go bankrupt. I lost my practice, I had some mental issues because of this. He was using up other people’s money, mainly mine, and other people, like a Ponzi scheme.” Calls to new APF Spokewoman Becky Shay, Two Rivers Authority Vice President Al Peterson, and Hardin Mayor Ron Adams were not returned.
Traffic speeding crime is rampant in my rural community. There is an average of 100+ high speed street crimes (some as high as 80 to 100 mph) in the 35 mph speed zone by my house every day. I need records to show that the police are not writing many speeding tickets and that our mayor is canceling a large percentage of speeding tickets for friends, family, neighbors, etc. The “good ole boy” network is very active here. Our police chief told me personally that he doesn’t write many tickets because our mayor will just cancel most of them. I would also like to get these same records from my county criminal traffic court dating back before our local mayor’s court was established 4 years ago. Does the Freedom of Information Act apply to local traffic crime records? Do I need an attorney to get these records and will I have to go to court to get them?
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