Physician in Fraud Case Arrested on New Charges

An Anaheim physician recently charged with 18 felony counts resulting from a continuing statewide investigation of Medi-Cal fraud has been arrested on charges that he tampered with witnesses and documents in the case, officials said Monday.

Ha Thuc Nhu Hy, 46, was arrested Jan. 31, several days after investigators recorded a conversation between the doctor and a prospective witness against him in which Ha allegedly tried for 90 minutes to persuade the witness to testify untruthfully, according to Deputy Atty. Gen. Ronald Prager.

Additional Allegation

Ha, a Long Beach resident, also allegedly attempted to enlist real Medi-Cal beneficiaries in an effort to change records that were the basis of the original charges against him, said a spokesman for the attorney general’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud. The doctor allegedly tried to create records of service to those patients that would cover the claims.

In other cases, officials alleged, Ha sent letters to other prospective witnesses against him urging them to come to his office. When some of them came they were asked to fill out patient charts predated to 1983 even though they had never been Ha’s patients, according to officials.

“Dr. Ha was trying to manufacture evidence, in the form of written evidence and testimony, to give the appearance that the claims he had already filed were in fact justified,” said Prager.

16 Felony Counts

Prager said Ha was charged Dec. 12 with grand theft, criminal conspiracy and 16 felony counts of filing false Medi-Cal claims. Officials said the complaint alleges that Ha billed Medi-Cal $10,000 between September, 1983, and May, 1984, for services he did not perform.

A preliminary hearing on all the charges has been set for March 6 in West Orange County Municipal Court.