Landon Mirallegro And Jeffrey Campau Defense Counsel Furious Over July 21st 2016 Arrests. Orange County DA Files New Criminal Charges Against Them For Fraud With Regional Imaging Center.
By Lonce LaMon - August 1, 2016
On Friday morning, July 29th 2016, in Orange County Superior Court, room C-30, the defense counsel for Landon Mirallegro, who was also making a special appearance for Jeffrey Campau, was furious. Landon Mirallegro and Jeffrey Campau are two of the notorious owners of Aspen Medical Resources of Anaheim.
The defense attorney was Kay Anderle, the former Kay Rackauckas, the former wife of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. This recent name change implicitly implies she is reasserting her maiden name and reidentifying herself as separate and independent from Tony. She looked and sounded quite energetic in her pants suit over her very slender figure. Her now lighter colored hair was nicely curled under at the back of her neck in an old fashioned page boy as she spoke vociferously with anger to Judge John Conley.
Defense Counsel Kay Anderle: He was arrested in front of his four-year-old son! They came in with their guns drawn, 6:30 in the morning, marched Mr. Mirallegro out to his driveway, and then cuffed him. His child was looking out the window. His wife was hysterical!
How dare they challenge the D.A. opinion! Because if you do that and you push back and you litigate, you’re going to get arrested in front of your four-year-old child.
And that’s the bottom line with the D. A.’s office. And that’s why we’re going to file a recusal motion as soon as I get the transcript. We’re going to file a vindictive recusal motion as soon as we can.
Some days ago, around July 14th, Deputy District Attorney Shaddi Kamiabipour, filed a new and separate complaint against only Landon Mirallegro and Jeffrey Campau, over their alleged illegal operation of Regional Imaging Center. This is a separate operation from Aspen Medical Resources, which has been the focus of the indictment filed three years ago, and is presently in litigation for egregious overbilling on a piece of durable medical equipment, a hot-cold machine which was billed as two separate units and at dozens of times its retail value. That case involves two other defendants, as well—Abraham Khorshad and Ryan McCracken—not included in this new filing.
In a nutshell DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour has been investigating Regional Imaging Center since about last November 2015. That center, according to the investigation conducted by Shaddi and her investigator, Jennifer Friedl, is operating as an LLC and not as a professional medical corporation. There are no licensed medical doctors working on the premises of Regional Imaging. There are merely MRI “technicians” using the MRI machines to take MRIs of patients. Then the images are vended out to radiologists as independent contractors who read the images. But the billings are submitted to insurance carrier claims departments with the appearance of global billing being sent from a professional medical corporation of radiologists.
DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour: We discovered that the defendants knew all along that the structure of Regional (Imaging) was illegal and that they don’t have a right to bill it the way they have been doing it.
We also discovered that there has been miscommunications and misrepresentations to Mr. Mosier (the Receiver). Mr. Mosier is writing checks to medical providers that are essentially kickbacks, at the direction of the defendants.
Shaddi explained to the court that the defendants were there on a fraud case. There was a second company that was put into receivership. The defendants continued to commit one set of fraud to pay the same victims they owed restitution to on the first case. They did this right under the Receiver’s nose.
DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour: It’s not okay. I mean, this is essentially theft by false pretense.
Shaddi expressed that the defendants are trying to ride the credibility of the receiver in order to collect on the Regional Imaging bills. There are $28 million in claims from Regional Imaging submitted to the WCAB.
She pointed out the basis of the Complaint is twofold. One is, defendants continued to essentially give kickbacks. They directed the receiver in order to pay for client referrals. In order for them to collect about $9 million worth of claims that have been submitted in the last few years to the WCAB, they had to lie. Shaddi called it theft by false pretenses.
DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour: And they have done it under the nose of the Receiver! That doesn’t make it okay. And I find it offensive. That’s the reason I filed the criminal charges.
Shaddi explained that repeatedly in the court room the counsels for the defendants have represented that the Receiver knows what’s going on. But the Receiver has appeared in the court room and said, “I don’t really know how it’s being run. I’m just taking in the money for the receivership.”
Shaddi Kamiabipour: So, I don’t see how it’s okay for the defendants to do what they did. I actually think that under the circumstances of this case with the Receiver in place it shows audacity.
But Judge Conley was uncomfortable with these new charges, and he said so. He asked Shaddi openly why she didn’t simply ask for their surrender rather than file a warrant for their arrests. Kay Anderle was boiling and seemed to be wining the judge’s favor.
Kay Anderle: She decided to file the criminal charges so that she could shut down Regional. She didn’t want to wait for your ruling August 19th. She didn’t want to wait for the experts to weigh in. She wanted to decide for herself and throw down the trump card and arrest my clients and file these, you know, what, 60 felony charges all surrounding the same issue that we’ve been litigating.
Kay railed on with boundless energy. She ranted that the D.A. wanted to pull the rug out from underneath her clients’ feet by requiring more bail when they have every last asset of theirs, which is eight million dollars, that have been frozen in the underlying case. They also have a million and a half dollars of bail posted.
Shaddi asserted that she didn’t believe Landon Mirallegro was arrested. But Kay insisted that he was without a doubt.
Kay Anderle: There’s absolutely no reason for that heavy handed behavior, other than to teach him a lesson. And that’s what we heard in CJ1 was that the D.A. was going to teach my client a lesson by arresting him in his house, when there was no reason to not let-- not allow him to surrender. Not pay me the professional courtesy of allowing me to surrender my client in front of you, your honor.
Shaddi explained that with regards to the arrest, it was her understanding from her investigators that they talked to Landon Mirallegro on the phone and asked him to come out because he has registered weapons. He cooperated and came out. With regards to the warrant, she did make that decision and believed it appropriate.
Shaddi Kamiabipour: It’s become obvious to me the last six months that everybody is treating this as if it’s a legitimate business deal and everything that’s going on is okay. And it’s not.
I think that’s the part that is fascinating to me. I’ve been met with passive/aggressive condescension.
The advantage that these two defendants have is that they are young, good looking, articulate, which is why they can pull it off.
Judge Conley did not grant Shaddi’s request for further bail and let the defendants go O.R. (on their own recognizance). He also did not grant her request as a condition of the O.R. that they surrender their weapons.
Judge John Conley: Well, certain areas like domestic violence, the law mandates taking away weapons, but are you saying there’s a threat to the public safety?
Shaddi Kamiabipour: Not right now.
Judge John Conley: Well, the court will decline the order to turn over weapons or to restrict their ownership of weapons. But, book and release by August 19th.
The next court appearance for this case will be on August 5th.
Lonce LaMon, journalist, lonce@adjustercom.com.
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