Aug. 26–Stockton chiropractor Michael Hall Yates, 48, and three other chiropractors were arrested this week after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance and charged with multiple felony counts, including insurance fraud.
If convicted, each faces up to five years in prison and fines of up to $150,000, or double the amount of the fraud, whichever is greater, according to information from the state agency.
Bail was set at $50,000 each. The chiropractors have been released on bail. Yates is scheduled to return to work Wednesday.
Yates rents office space at 2308 N. California St. in Stockton, according to a receptionist in the building who works for another chiropractor not implicated in the case.
Yates uses the business name California Accident & Injury Centers. He also advertises a Lodi office at 1806 Kettleman Lane. The phone number advertised for that office is hooked up to a fax machine.
No one answered his Stockton office phone, and no message could be left.
Upon learning of a warrant for his arrest Tuesday, Yates turned himself in to authorities in Contra Costa County that night and was booked into jail in Martinez, officials said.
Department of Insurance investigators arrested three other chiropractors from out of the area Tuesday and booked them into the San Joaquin County Jail: Joseph R. Ambrose, 43, of El Dorado Hills; Richard Guadalupe Saucedo, 62, of Turlock; and Pedram Vaezi, 33, of Modesto.
Their arraignments are scheduled for today. Yates’ arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 23 in San Joaquin County.
The chiropractors are charged with filing false insurance claims and practicing medicine without certification. Yates and Ambrose also are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, grand theft, workers’ compensation insurance fraud and unlawful rebates.
“We look to people in the medical profession to help us, not harm us,” California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said after the arrests. “But crimes such as those alleged in this case hurt us all by forcing insurance rates ever higher. We will prosecute these cases to the fullest extent possible to send a strong message that will help end these harmful scams.”
A source close to the investigation said Yates and Ambrose were two of six co-owners of the Sierra Hills Surgery & Medical Center, an outpatient surgery center on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento that has been closed for several months.
They allegedly were directing and performing a surgical procedure known as manipulation under anesthesia, or MUA, but chiropractors — according to terms of their licensure — are prohibited from performing or even participating in medical-surgical procedures.
Hundreds of patients over the course of about 18 months underwent the procedure at Sierra Hills, according to the source. In medical circles, MUA is considered “very controversial,” and the insurance companies stopped paying Sierra Hills for performing it, the source said.
According to a Web site maintained by Trial Digest magazine, Yates is listed as an expert witness for chiropractic in civil litigation cases. He has standing as a qualified medical examiner, which could be in jeopardy if he’s convicted of a felony.
Insurance Department investigators learned of Yates while investigating the other three chiropractors as employees of Modesto-based Med-1 Medical Center. Med-1 is the focus of an ongoing joint investigation by the department and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.
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