Pharmacy owner pleads in Medicare fraud case

PHILADELPHIA » The owner of a Texas pharmacy pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to defraud and receive kickbacks in a compounded medications case involving two Delaware County residents. Leah Afolabi, 46, of Missouri City, Texas, entered the guilty plea agreement under seal, so no details are available yet. Sentencing has been set for April 22 before U.S. District Judge Berle M. Schiller of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Afolabi, owner of MedX Pharmacy in Houston, was charged in September with Dr. Steven J. Valentino, 63, of Haverford, office manager Michele Miller, 51, of Swarthmore, for an alleged scheme to fill bogus prescriptions for expensive “compounded medications,” which must be specially mixed when a particular drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not meet the needs of a patient.

Valentino operated an osteopathic practice with locations in King of Prussia and Sewell, New Jersey, according to an indictment unsealed in September. Miller owned Miller Healthcare Consulting LLC and has also worked for Valentino since at least 2013, the indictment says.

From May 2013 through July 2017, Afolabi allegedly paid kickbacks to two other unnamed individuals in return for referrals for prescriptions of expensive compounded medications, including for pain creams written by Valentino. The two unnamed individ

uals in turn paid Valentino and Miller for prescriptions that were sent to Afolabi’s pharmacy, according to the indictment.

Afolabi billed the Department of Labor-Office Workers Compensation Program $2.5 million over the course of the scheme for prescriptions written by Valentino, of which the DOL-OWCP paid out approximately $1.1 million, according to the indictment. Another $63,000 in Medicare claims based on Valentino’s prescriptions was also paid in full, the indictment says.

The charges came as part of a sweeping nationwide health care fraud investigation that has so far charged 345 defendants across 51 federal districts, including more than 100 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals.

Valentino has been released on a $100,000 bond and Miller was released on a $50,000 bond with certain restrictions. Judge Schiller has granted a motion from the defendants to extend the time to file pretrial motions due to the complexity of the case and potentially novel questions of fact or law, but no other scheduling order has been issued.