Former counselor gets 57 months for fraud

Amental health counselor who admitted he played a role in a massive health care fraud, which operated at substance abuse treatment centers and sober homes in South Florida, was sentenced Wednesday to four years and nine months in federal prison.

Barry Gregory, the former clinical director of two drug and alcohol abuse treatment centers in Broward and Palm Beach counties, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two federal charges: conspiracy to commit health care fraud and knowingly falsifying a matter involving health care benefit programs.

He will remain free on bond until he surrenders to prison in August.

Gregory, 62, of Wellington, worked at Reflections Treatment Center in Margate and Journey to Recovery in Lake Worth, two treatment centers that authorities say were illegally owned by convicted felon Kenneth Chatman.

Chatman, the acknowledged ringleader of the fraud, has pleaded guilty to related charges and is jailed pending sentencing later this year. Chatman abused and took advantage of people who were trying to overcome their addiction to drugs and alcohol so he could make money by illegally billing their insurance companies for treatment and bogus drug testing, authorities said.

“Gregory and his coconspirators placed their personal wealth above the life and welfare of young, vulnerable patients and residents who were attempting to recover from drug addiction,” federal prosecutors wrote in court records.

Prosecutors said several patients fatally overdosed or survived drug overdoses while Gregory worked at Reflections but he never reported any of his concerns to authorities.

Gregory’s attorney requested a lesser punishment for several reasons, including his client’s cooperation with federal investigators and his long prior history of helping people overcome addictions and mental health problems.

Gregory admitted he knew about a significant amount of Chatman’s criminal activities when he worked for Chatman in 2015 and 2016.

According to prosecutors, Gregory knew that Chatman was concealing his ownership of sober homes; that Chatman was paying bribes and kickbacks to get other people to refer patients in recovery to his treatment centers; and that Chatman was paying bribes and kickbacks, including free rent, to patients who had insurance coverage that could be billed.