SANTA ANA : Jury Convicts Physician in First of 20 Insurance Sting Cases

A Santa Ana physician was convicted Thursday of automobile insurance fraud from evidence collected in a wide-ranging sting operation by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

An Orange County Superior Court jury found Dr. David Tran guilty of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, grand theft and three counts of insurance fraud.

His lawyer, Robert S. Pike Jr., said his client will appeal the verdict, which could result in his getting up to seven years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 7.

Tran’s jury verdict before Judge Jack Ryan was the first conviction of 20 defendants, including seven physicians, a chiropractor and a licensed physical therapist, whose arrests in February stemmed from a district attorney’s undercover investigation.

From July, 1992, to December, 1993, the district attorney set up a phony law office in Costa Mesa and sent out flyers soliciting personal injury cases.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski said Tran Medical Office was one of nine separate medical offices that offered the undercover investigators kickbacks for business referrals.

Lubinski said three undercover officers who posed as auto accident victims went to Tran, who listened to their complaints and allegedly helped to “embellish” them.

He said Tran billed each patient for four examinations, but actually provided only one exam lasting one to three minutes. Tran also billed for large numbers of phony physical therapy sessions, he said. “He billed to the tune of $9,000 for all of this,” Lubinski said.

“He prepared fraudulent reports and billings and coached undercover officers what they should say if they were asked,” he added.

Pike argued that a part-time clerical employee in Tran’s office, Florita Interior of Irvine, had offered the kickbacks and altered Tran’s medical records without his knowledge.

Lubinski said Interior has disappeared, and there is a bench warrant for her arrest.