'Doctor' charged with fraud

Editor's Note: All charges of Medicaid fraud and practicing medicine without a license were dropped by the state.

Jorge Manuel Prieto, 42, was arrested Friday on charges of fraud and practicing medicine without a license for patient care provided in High Springs.

The Alachua County resident was charged with 61 counts of Medicaid fraud, one count of grand theft, one count of organized scheme to defraud federal and state health care programs and 13 counts of practicing medicine without a license, according to a news release from the Florida Attorney General's Office. All of the charges are third-degree felonies.

"Prieto, who attended medical school in Cuba, provided unlicensed medical care to patients at High Springs Family Clinic and submitted claims for these unlicensed services to federal and state health-care programs," a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office confirmed Friday.

Lynsey Sherman said Prieto had been under investigation since December of last year.Although not licensed to practice in the United States, Sherman is alleged to have performed routine medical exams and general office visits at the High Springs facility.

He also is alleged to have administered local anesthesia and removed a mole from one patient.The amount of money Prieto is alleged to have received fraudulently from Medicaid is $4,147.11, along with $1,238.88 from Medicare, according to the Attorney General's Office.

The investigation and arrest were a combined effort by the High Springs Police Department, Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Florida Department of Health.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: 'Doctor' charged with fraud