North Canton man indicted for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid out $2 million, including allegedly billing for services performed on patients who were already deceased

A North Canton man was indicted for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of approximately $2 million by billing for X-ray services that were not provided by his company, Portable Radiology Services.  

Thomas G. O’Lear, 55, was charged with 25 counts of health care fraud and one count of false statements relating to health care matters.

O’Lear was the president of Portable Radiology Services, or PRS. The company had locations in Canton, North Canton, Uniontown and Cleveland. PRS provided portable X-ray related services to individuals residing in nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities and long-term care facilities, according to the indictment.

O’Lear billed Medicaid and Medicare for X-ray services that PRS did not provide, including billing on approximately 151 occasions for having provided X-rays to deceased patients on dates that were after the patients had passed away, according to the indictment.

This occurred between approximately January 2013 and December 2017, according to the indictment.

O’Lear also allegedly attempted to cover up the health care fraud scheme by forging the signatures of medical professionals to falsely make it appear that services that PRS did not provide to patients, and that O’Lear billed the government for, were actually provided to patients, according to the indictment.  

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brendan D. O’Shea and Mark S. Bennett, following an investigation by the United States Department of Health and Human Services -- Office of the Inspector General, the FBI, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan L. Metzler and Special Agent Jeremy Buening of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations.  In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.