North Platte Bulletin
Scott Tran, 45, was convicted of the largest health care fraud crime in Nebraska to the tune of $14 million. On Wednesday, Tran was sentenced to more than nine years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced the pharmacist to110 months of incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $14.43 million.
Scott Tran, 45, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for bilking Nebraska’s Medicaid of $14.4 million. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Tran was indicted by a federal grand jury May 19, 2014 and charged with 12 counts of health care fraud and six counts of identity theft. Tran pled guilty to health care fraud on Sept. 29.
Tran operated Pharmacy Specialty Services, in Lincoln and during a nearly six-year period from May 2009 to March 2015, he submitted 2,346 false claims to Nebraska Medicaid for dispensing a prescription drug – tobramycin solution for inhalation (TOBI) – which he in fact did not dispense.
Tran was paid a total of $14,430,059.17 by Nebraska Medicaid on these claims. According to Tran, the money was primarily used by him to support his gambling habit.
Gerrard ordered Tran to pay restitution to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Agency.
Investigators have seized money and other assets from Tran to be used for restitution, including more than $2.1 million in cash, a house in Waterloo valued at more than $800,000, a car, a boat and trailer.
The case was investigated by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of Investigations of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
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