Pierce
People v. Pierce
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Franson, J.
*142 *324 INTRODUCTION
Operating under their company, P & R Med-Legal Medical Corporation (P & R), Dolphus Dwayne Pierce, a chiropractor, and Tomas Ballesteros Rios, a physician, conspired with others to defraud various workers' compensation insurance carriers. P & R contracted with physicians to perform cursory (if any) examinations of workers' compensation patients at chiropractic clinics, and then dispense prepackaged medications to these patients with little or no regard for medical need. Pierce and Rios contracted with a company to prepare and submit scanned medical reports and bills to workers' compensation insurance carriers. These bills sought payment for the medications dispensed, and for services relating to the dispensing of medications-some of which were not performed, and some costlier than the services actually performed by the physician. Eventually, a search warrant was executed on businesses and homes associated with P & R. After P & R shut down, Pierce and Rios contracted with another company to rebill the insurance carriers for services initially billed by P & R, seeking to collect on existing unpaid bills for medications previously dispensed.