A dentist from Macomb County has been sentenced to serve 218 days in jail and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution for committing a Medicaid fraud scheme.
David Johnson, 51, of Chesterfield Township, also was sentenced to five years probation during his sentencing Wednesday by 54B District Judge Richard Ball, sitting in for Ingham County Circuit Judge James Jamo.
The scheme was operated through Livernois Dental in Detroit, which Johnson owned and operated but has since been sold, according to a news release from the Michigan Attorney Generals Office.
This man used the guise of dental treatment to intentionally steal from the taxpayers of this state who fund Medicaid, Attorney General Bill Schuette said in the release.
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Johnson was originally charged in May, but was outside of the country at the time and avoided arrest until the U.S. Marshals Service captured him in September in the Dominican Republic.
Johnson has been in the Ingham County Jail since his return to Michigan.
Johnson may well have escaped justice but for the exemplary work of the U.S. Marshals Service, Schuette said in the release.
The attorney general also credited Delta Dental with playing a prominent role in resolving the case.
According to state authorities, Johnson used another dentists information to improperly bill Medicaid $1.7 million over a three-year period.
Johnson could not be directly bill Medicaid himself he was on the Medicaid exclusion list following an earlier fraud conviction in 2006, according to the release. The list contains health care providers prohibited from billing the program.
According to the state attorney generals office, Johnsons scheme effectively hid his activity from the program until state officials received a tip.
— Macomb Daily staff