Norma Reyna Garner Released Of All Charges In Landmark Medical Case In Orange County
By Lonce Lamonte - November 16, 2017
Norma Reyna Garner appeared in court room C-45 in Orange County Superior Court on Monday morning, November 13th 2017. She was there waiting as she sat alone at the bench at 9:15 am in front of the low wall in the judge’s area with her lawyer, Jeffrey Isaacs, behind her leaning on the wall. Isaacs, wearing a red tie and a dark grey suit, waited patiently for proceedings to begin.
There was no one else in the court room but the bailiffs and the clerk. Norma looked relaxed and well in her fine black suit. Her brown hair with light highlights weaved throughout was nicely styled as it fell to her shoulders. She looked like one of the attorneys.
Norma’s energy emanated the lifting of weight from her as she waited knowing she was about to hear the Deputy District Attorney, Shaddi Kamiabipour, state she was dropping six counts of workers’ compensation fraud filed against her last year, along with the enhancements, and alleviating her of all charges.
Finally Shaddi arrived looking casual for court in a lovely pink and white sweater and light brown pants. She took a place half leaning, half sitting, on the low wall next to Jeffrey Isaacs. She and Jeff chatted in a friendly tone which was contrary to the moderately adversarial tone of their written documental exchanges.
The Honorable Thomas Goethals finally came to the bench.
Judge Thomas Goethals: This court received a call last week from one counsel or the other asking that the case be advanced for purposes of a possible resolution. And I am in trial, but I said if it was going to take just a few minutes, let’s get it done. So here you are.
Defense Attorney Jeffrey Isaacs: I believe this will be a dismissal of the charges against Ms. Garner.
Norma Reyna Garner worked as the collector for Landmark Medical Management, owned by CEO Kareem Ahmed. Norma was not charged in the original two indictments, which were filed on June 17th 2014. She testified as a witness before the grand jury on May 20, 2014. She did so under a grand of use immunity and use derivative immunity.
However, after the indictment was decimated by a successful demurrer which was won through a writ of mandate filed by lead defense counsel for the defendants collectively, Benjamin Gluck, Norma was charged when a set of complaints were filed replacing the indictments for all the defendants except Bruce Curnick. That was in May of 2016 when Norma, Kareem Ahmed, Michael Rudolph, and Andrew Jarminski were charged together in one of the complaints with five counts of insurance fraud--Penal Code section 550(a)(8), one count of conspiracy, and enhancements.
The charges against her were based on acts and transactions occurring both before and after her May 29, 2014 grand jury appearance, and they were related to an excess of 150 million dollars in workers’ compensation fraud.
Kareem Ahmed’s favorite enterprise—the prescribing of compound pain creams to workers’ compensation patients before SB 863 (2012) slammed shut that loop hole that previously didn’t demand any limit on charges for compounds—is now over. He paid kick-backs to numerous doctors and chiropractors for prescribing his creams.
In a letter to Shaddi Kamiabipour, written on February 13, 2017, the defense wrote,
“In the seminal case of Kastigar v. U.S., 406 U.S. 441 (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court held that, as a matter of constitutional law, where the government files criminal charges against a person who previously provided compelled testimony under a grant of use/derivative use immunity, the government bears “the heavy burden of proving that all of the evidence it proposes to use was derived from legitimate independent sources.
Based on the record in Ms. Garner’s case, it is evident that the People cannot make this showing with respect to any of the charges pending against her. In particular, the People will not be able to show that the decision to charge her, or the evidence to be offered against her, is wholly independent of, and neither derived directly or indirectly, from her immunized testimony. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the People voluntarily dismiss those charges in the interests of justice, pursuant to Penal Code section 1385.”
Jeffrey Isaacs since writing the letter to Shaddi, had filed a motion. Now he told the court he was withdrawing his Kastigar motion, and moving to vacate the evidentiary hearing. He emphasized that his Kastigar motion was not based upon or alleging any prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Thomas Goethals: Why do you care if the motion is formally withdrawn? Because you don’t, neither of you, want it to look like it is done in response to the motion, it is done as a 1385?
DDA Shaddi Kamiabipour: It is in the interests of justice, your honor. I think the issue was the concerns that the People have—I don’t necessarily need to put it on the record. But there was no malicious intent behind it, and counsel offered to do that. I don’t have a problem with it.
Shaddi went on to say that she offered to dismiss the case in the interests of justice because it was the right thing to do. And then Jeff Isaacs offered to withdraw the motion.
And that was that. Isaacs asked for his client’s bail to be exonerated, and the judge complied. It was a $50,000 cash bail.
Court adjourned and Shaddi had one last remark.
Shaddi Kamiabipour: I think that’s the quickest hearing I’ve had here, your honor.
Judge Thomas Goethals: I think by far. The quickest one you will have by far.
After court, near the corridor benches and in front of the elevators, Jeffrey Isaacs was hesitant to say any more. But this writer did convince him to finally say, “It was a strong motion and the People did the right thing under the circumstances.”
Shaddi Kamiabipour was candid but brief: “She was a small player. So I gave her a break.”
lonce@adjustercom.com; Lonce Lamonte, journalist
| 
__May11th2017.gif)
.gif)