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U.S. Postal Inspection Service
Toronto police say they arrested Leonard Nwafor on an extradition warrant in the Canadian city on Wednesday.
TORONTO -- An American fugitive convicted in a $1-million health-care fraud scheme in California was arrested Wednesday in Canada.
Police said Leonard Nwafor was detained on an extradition warrant at his Toronto residence. The U.S. Marshals Service contacted Toronto authorities in August to seek their help in finding Nwafor and issued the extradition warrant last month.
Nwafor was convicted on two counts related to health-care fraud for submitting false claims to Medicare through his Los Angeles-based company in 2008. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most of the claims were for power wheelchairs costing up to $7,000 each that were not required by patients.
Federal prosecutors said he made more than $1.1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the U.S. government's health-care program for the elderly and disabled, and received more than $500,000 in payments.
Nwafor fled California after the conviction. In 2010, he was sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison and ordered to pay more than $500,000 in restitution and $25,000 in fines.
He was also ordered to forfeit more than $500,000 in stolen funds to the U.S. government.
Full international coverage from NBC News
Authorities believe he had been living in Canada since he fled.
Nwafor was also wanted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which had placed him among its 10 most-wanted fugitives.
The agency charges that Nwafor opened fraudulent credit card accounts in Arizona and used the cards in Southern California.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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These scumbags get by with this because people are so stupid and ignorant about their medicare coverage and how to read the documents they receive after a visit to their doctors. If they did know they would report anything not right but they prefer remaining stupid because its too much trouble to educate yourself and take care of business! It is deliberately ignorance and laziness! IF the people would protest a lot of this would stop but they don't - they just continue to sit in front of the TV and 'let someone else do it' Pathetic!!!
No, these scumbags get away with it, because their clientele are fat, lazy scumbags, who are trying to get a motorized chair illegally, because they are too lazy to take a step away from their couch. The people with genuine needs, do not have to go through such fishy sources, to procure a motorized chair. So, it is all of us Joe Public, who are guilty. Do not live in a glass house and throw stones at others.
Someone help! My butt hole is chaffing!!!
Just another bro...with a gig.
another person of color, possibly illegal, criminal in calif....no story here...just another day
a black criminal!!! what next a crime free white neighborhood??!
Only a million dollars? Who is anyone kidding? The gov. does this by the second.
Its a shame this useless scumbag of society did not resist and cops had drilled him. In fact I would like to see someone post a reward and "dead or alive" posters ( extra reward for dead) for scumbag doctors,nurses, nursing home mgt,pharmacists, and any other slimers who bilk the govt for our hard earned tax money.
And THAT my friends is just the TIP of the fraud iceberg. It is running RAMPANT, and obamacare will be WORSE. Anything the government touches is subject to outright theft.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most of the claims were for power wheelchairs costing up to $7,000 each ''that were not required by patients.'' I was taken off my feet in March 2010 and as my only means of getting around since I could not walk (and still am unable to do so as I have not had physical therapy) I had to resort to using a wheelchair. I wanted to have my doctor acquire a power wheelchair for me especially for winter time mobility and I was denied with the explanation that ''it was not required." So whos to say that ''they were not required'' in these cases when they were obtained for these people? The ''they are not required'' standard of healthcare services procurement is such a subjective blanket assessment based on absolutely no first hand visual assessment of the individual in question that its no wonder means such as this are being used to get people what they deserve to lead better more quality lives. I will recover from my having had a need for a power wheelchair but I have had to live with the inconvenience of using a manual wheelchair since my falling incident that Ive stayed indoors but for medical appointments and very rare ventures outdoors and Ive most certainly not beeen out and about in winter weather.
What makes you feel it is safe to go out in winter, in a powered wheel chair? If that was your primary reason, no wonder it was denied.
If Obama had an illegal alien cousin (and I'm sure he does), he would look a lot like Leonard.
Authorities nab this guy who stole peanuts compared with Gov. Rick Scott R-FL, who still multi-millions and got off scott (sic) free!! Go figure! IN the US, justice belongs to those who can afford to buy it!
Where is Zimmerman when we need him?
Zimmerman? Last I heard he was busy dumping a load in your sister.
I thought you gave back good, when someone made a racist comment; but this remark reveals that you are a sexist and deserve a good spanking, Singapore- style. What has the writer's sister done, that justifies such a statement from you?
The moral here is
Don't steal, the Government hates competition.
Scooter. Tell me how illegals collect on Medicare? If they committ fraud, yes but that includes criminals like this man. You cannot collect any medicare unless you present a green card. Where illegals hurt us is by going to the urgent care unit of a hospital to get medical treatment and then not paying the bill but they are not the only ones who do that. Considering the urgent care will likely charge you from 500 - 1,000 bucks, I am not sure just who is the criminal. 70 thou is not allot of money today. My son-in-law makes that as a industrial mechanic. "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime" Balzach. "Behind every great crime lies a Nigerian" McNicholas. So tell me that the victim of the crime is to blame and not the person who committed the crime? Remember one of the greatest Medicare fraud cases in history was done by American doctors, hospital administrators and nurses at a U.S. hospital in Texas. 1 billion big ones.
Viva Arizona SB1070
If Obama had an Uncle . . . .
my god he is sooooo ugly. a poster boy for euthasia
What about the $1.5 TRILLON dollar fraud W commited on the country with his illegal war in Iraq? Why hasn't HE been prosecuted and jailed?
I say.....let this poor schmuck go, and chase the REAL crooks in this country....The Fed! I have been paying into the SS fund for almost 50 years....and all they will give me is 1200.00 bucks a month....AND Uncle Sam calls it
"A federal ENTITLEMENT" ?? That's MY money you crooks....not an entitlement!
They act as if it were a gift.
Yeh, where do people claiming SSI is an entitlement get that from? Isn't it a form of insurance? Does that mean that all insurance policies (life,health,auto,home) are entitlement programs as well? When President Roosevelt set up SSI, he did it so politicians in the future could not touch it. All the money poured into SSI since it's inception should have produced more money from wall street or in interest than the best life insurance policy. But politicians couldn't leave it alone so it could be used as it was intended to be used. They depleted the program over the years by changing where the money goes. Now they want us to believe it is an entitlement! Roosevelt was right. There will be politicians who will want to steal our investment in our retirement. Not only have they changed the program, now they have changed the definition of insurance. The culprits wrote the book on Ponzy schemes.
Go figure it's a /Vigger
Just one more reason to go with a single government healthcare payer system. Oh, wait nevermind.
Gotcha, you thieving bastard.
Boy...i tell ya...Whitey popped this coon but good!
Did you catch this in the article. He stole $1.1 MILLION and is ordered to make restitution on $1,025,000.00 Who says crime doesn't pay. What happened to the other $75,000.00 plus court costs and incarceration???? Our government is a joke. CRIME PAYS IN USA. if you get caught you just have to repay what you stole, most likely less as in this case. Fry the basterds [sp] a$$.
I recall reading a story on one of these "news" sites where it talked about a news paper articles. In the paper that day, one story was of a white businessman that bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company and got probation as a sentence. In the same paper on the same day there was and article about a homeless black man that walked into a bank and told the teller he wanted money so he could eat. The teller emptied the drawer as this was a robbery. He then said I just need enough to eat and only took a $50 dollar bill. After eating and feeling the guilt and remorse for what he had done he took the change from the fifty to the police station and told them what he had done. He was promptly arrested and charged with bank robbery. After appearing in front of a judge he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Keep in mind that these crimes didn't happen on the same day they were just concluded and reported on the same day. Something is definitely wrong here.
Yep.