Staff Reports
The Tonawanda News
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A former Buffalo dentist who in Feb. 2008 completed a jail sentence for mail fraud and making false statements was indicted on 61 counts by a federal grand jury Wednesday for the same crimes.
Tejbir Oberoi, 65, of Kenmore, faces charges that he submitted false claims to insurance companies and health care benefit programs seeking payment for dental procedures that he never provided to his patients between 1993 and 1999.
Oberoi pleaded guilty in January 2004 to similar charges, and was sentenced in August 2004 to 63 months in jail. Although he completed that sentence, Oberoi’s conviction was vacated earlier this year following a Supreme Court decision addressing the Speedy Trial Act.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled the original indictment should be dismissed because the case did not involve the government's intentional non-compliance with the Speedy Trial Act.
That allowed the government to present the case to a new grand jury, which returned the 61-count indictment.
The new charges each carry a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.
Information from the New York state Insurance Department indicates that Oberoi was first indicted in October 1999 on 157 counts of health care fraud in which he was accused of billing for services never rendered and in some cases for services purportedly provided to patients he had never met.
When he was sentenced in August 2004, Oberoi was also ordered to repay several insurance companies nearly $225,000 for submitting fraudulent insurance claims.
At the time, Oberoi admitted that he "knowingly and willfully" submitted "false, fictitious and fraudulent" insurance forms in 1995 and 1996.
