JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania doctor will spend a fraction of the time in prison that he spent in Central America trying to elude prosecution for health care fraud and income tax charges.
Sixty-five-year-old Dr. William Acosta was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Thursday by a federal judge in Johnstown, where Acosta once practiced.
He was arrested in Panama last year and in January pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and health care fraud. The neurologist fled to the Dominican Republic before federal authorities filed charges against him in early 2008.
According to that criminal complaint, Acosta overbilled private insurance companies and Medicare, then underreported his income by $561,000 on personal and corporate tax returns from 2001 to 2003.
He must repay $121,000 for some of the overbilling.
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