POCATELLO — A local dentist has been charged with five felony counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of grand theft, accused of charging the state medical insurance for services he did not provide, services already paid for and services that were not medically necessary, according to court documents.
Carl B. Holm was charged in August by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office after an investigation by its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He is accused of committing numerous acts of fraud under several patient names over the course of about three years, beginning in mid-2007 to the spring of 2010.
Holm’s preliminary hearing was postponed several times because of the disqualification of three different judges. While a defendant has the opportunity to disqualify one judge with no reason required, a judge may also disqualify himself or herself if that judge feels there is a conflict.
On Dec. 13, Holm waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was bound over to the district court. At the time of his waiver, it was also put on the record that a potential plea agreement had been reached.
According to court documents, that plea agreement calls for Holm to plead guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud. Prosecutors will dismiss the other five felony counts against the defendant and agreed to recommend three years of probation with an underlying sentence of one year fixed and two years indeterminate.
Prosecutors also agreed not to argue against a withheld judgment.
For his part, Holm, in addition to pleading guilty to one count, agreed to pay roughly $10,000 in restitution, including $7,300 based on the criminal activity he is accused of, and $2,700 to reimburse the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, which is also prosecuting the case, for investigative costs.
Holm is expected to be in front of Sixth District Judge Stephen Dunn for his arraignment on Monday.
(7) comments
The Mormon Corridor (the so-called "Morridor") is chock full of this model, LDS businessmen defrauding government, church members, or shareholders, or any combination of the above. Chances are that even while Holm may ultimately be found guilty, he will keep right on serving in his capacity of stake president, and will keep right on passing judgment against fellow church members in the various "courts of love" over which he presides. It is not just cynicism on my behalf; this model is just too common to think otherwise.
The journal should be ashamed to cover this and should actually report the truth. Actually there are no journal writers that can report well enough. It is a horribly written paper. I for one am glad that newspapers are going out of business across teh country!! They report BS
Are you serious? He ripped off the system? First to the below commenters.... Medicaid incidents happen ALL of the time!!! Most are irrelevant and worthless cases. Obviously this one is "fishy". $7300? come on! Dentists do NOT rip off a system for $7300 over 3 years!!! That is small change, petty cash. Obviously poor book keeping, poor management, the regular mishaps in the medical industry. Someone is trying to make an example here is all. $7300?? The state is wasting their time... and ours!! good grief. I think we should sue whoever is behind this. HAPPY22 has no clue at all. Obviously without education too.
Getting that money back from him will be like pulling teeth!
Wow, into sweeping generalizations much happy? I'm NOT a dentist but do work with a number of dentists and overwhelmingly find them to be good people and generally quite honest. Beyond being quite honest they also have an incentive to be even more so - Medicaid Fraud or Insurance Fraud are not trivial matters and most dentists I know work extremely hard to bill insurances or medicaid perfectly so as not to even create the slimmest chance of incurring fraud charges and risk their dental license.
I cant speak to his situation and why he did what he allegedly did. But in terms of your comments, I'll simply say that in my opinion, any professional who has gone to at least 8 years of college (as required to be a dentist) with the associated costs that are along the lines of a very nice house just to get licensed, and then the costs to start a practice that are 200-400K just to get the doors open has every right to be financially successful. Dentists often make more money than me, but I didnt invest that kind of money or time in my education, so I dont begrudge them, and am not sure why you would either, you too could have the same income earning opportunity if you take the same education path and assume the same risks in opening a business.
Dentists make so much money and still want to screw someone else. Go figure!!!
read my comment
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