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| | Aspen Medical Quartet Of Defendants Appear In Orange County Superior Court For Continuing Arraignment
By Lonce LaMon - March 17, 2014
Just this past Friday morning, March 14th 2014, the Aspen Medical Resources quartet of defendants from the Anaheim, California, durable medical equipment company, appeared in Orange County Superior Court in court room C-30. The owners of the company, a company which has had all its assets seized and put into receivership by the Orange County District Attorney, are Abraham Khorshad, Jeff Campau, and Landen Mirallegro.
They are out of custody on 1.5 million dollars bail each. The fourth defendant is not an owner but was the collector-hearing rep who worked on commission on collections: Ryan McCracken. Ryan is a young man of about 30 years who appeared well dressed in a brown jacket, brown shoes, and dark blue pants with a brown striped tie. He is out of custody on $20,000 bail. He has light red hair, is slender, and somewhat resembles film director Ron Howard.
This case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Shaddi Kamiabipour. DA Investigator Louis Martinez has been investigating the Aspen Medical Resources organization for about the last five years. Shaddi appeared in court wearing a long dark green skirt and brown boots. Louis appeared in a dark brown suit with thin faint pin stripes.
All the defendants appeared well dressed and presented a good appearance. All are slender and in good trim. Landen Mirallegro is 40ish, wore a dark blue suit with a blue patterned tie, and has Kay Rackauckas as his defense attorney. She appeared in her slim and diminutive figure in the court room.
Kay Rackauckas (left) with Kelly Soo Park leaving the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse on February 8th 2011. Kelly Soo Park's trial for the murder of actress Juliana Redding didn't start for more than two years from this date. Park had two more sets of lawyers after Kay and her law partner resigned citing a conflict of interest. Park was aquitted of murder in June of 2013 in a shocking verdict that has many believing, including former LA County DDA Alan Jackson, that Kelly Soo Park literally got away with murder. © adjustercom, photography by Lonce LaMon; all rights reserved.
Kay is a well-known Southern California super-lawyer and criminal defense attorney. She and her partner, Jennifer Keller, were accused murderer Kelly Soo Park’s first defense lawyers beginning in the Summer of 2010.
Rackauckas and Keller resigned as Kelly Soo Park’s defense counsels over what they cited as a conflict of interest when it was discovered by the Santa Monica police investigator and presented to the DA that a $100,000 payment to Rackauckas-Keller during the pre-trial phase of Kelly Soo Park’s proceedings for the murder of aspiring actress and model Juliana Redding came from Dr. Munir Uwaydah. Uwaydah, who is still presumed to be on the lam in Lebanon, is still under extensive investigation for workers’ compensation insurance fraud and other forms of fraud in California.
The Aspen quartet were indicted in October 2013 on 49 total felony counts of fraudulent overbilling for mostly hot-cold physical therapy machines used for treating pain and inflammation. For a machine that retailed for between $250 and $500 to purchase, Aspen billed So Cal workers’ compensation claims departments often thousands of dollars for rentals of the hot-cold machines. One attorney wrote to adjustercom and cited receiving a bill for $18,900 for several two-week periods of rentals.
DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour talks to DA Investigator Louis Martinez on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Martinez has worked on the investigation of Aspen Medical Resources from the onset. Photography by Lonce LaMon, © adjustercom; all rights reserved.
The hot-cold hybrid therapy machine did not appear on the DME equipment medical fee schedule between 2005 and 2013 when Aspen was operating. Only the hot therapy machine and the cold therapy machine were on the fee schedule. The Aspen quartet exploited this separation of the hot machine versus the cold machine and seized the opportunity to charge for two machines when only one machine was provided to the patient-claimant.
This case is citing $36 million in overbilling of the hot-cold physical therapy machines to workers’ compensation claims departments.
A stipulation regarding the seized assets was filed and signed by the judge Friday morning, and late discovery was accepted. A new date for the continuance of this arraignment was set for April 25th 2014.
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