MURRIETA: Inland man charged in health-care fraud case

A Murrieta man and his son accused of participating in a statewide bribery scheme targeting workers’ compensation insurers were indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges.

Ruben Martinez, 59, of Murrieta, and his son Alexander, 37, of Calexico, are accused of hiding money that was used to buy patient referrals, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

“This criminal network bought and sold patients like cattle,” District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said in the news release.

Legal documents give the following account of how the alleged scheme worked:

Los Angeles radiologist Ronald Grusd, who runs 13 California Imaging Network Medical Group clinics, including one in Rialto and another in Victorville, was arrested on suspicion of paying a chiropractor to refer him patients.

The bribes, according to the news release, were funneled through Grusd’s shell corporation, Willows Consulting.

To further hide the kickbacks, checks were issued to the Martinezes through their front companies, Line of Sight Inc., of Calexico, and Desert Blue Moon, of Las Vegas, the news release said. The duo would take their “cut” of the money and then give it to the chiropractor.

In a second indictment, two men are accused of bribing a San Diego chiropractor to refer patients who were injured on the job to their company.

In the third indictment, a chiropractor is accused of accepting bribes for referring patients to the seller of medical equipment.

To report suspected health care fraud, call the FBI at 1-800-225-5324 or the California Department of Insurance’s toll-free fraud hotline, 1-800-927-4357.

Staff writer Courtney Perkes contributed to this report.

MURRIETA: Inland man charged in health-care fraud case