FBI Steps Up Probe of Mental Health Officials

VENTURA — As soon as a pending Medicare fraud lawsuit is settled by Ventura County, the FBI will step up a parallel investigation to determine if county mental health officials should face criminal prosecution, authorities disclosed Friday.

The focus of the FBI’s criminal probe is whether officials deliberately broke the law when billing the federal government for services in thousands of cases between 1990 and 1998.

“We didn’t want to do anything on the criminal side that would impact the civil side,” said David Nesbitt, FBI agent in charge of the Ventura office. “So we’re at a preliminary stage. There are a lot of witnesses we have not talked to and a lot of documents we have not seen.”

Nesbitt revealed that his office began its own inquiry into county billing practices eight months ago. He estimated that it will take six more months to decide whether criminal charges should be filed.

A civil inquiry by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles began last year after a Ventura County psychiatrist filed a whistle-blower lawsuit complaining that the mental health department systematically overbilled Medicare for treatment.

Federal prosecutors, after joining the case, agreed to settle it earlier this month for $17 million, then tentatively accepted a $15.3-million counteroffer from the county.

The Board of Supervisors will discuss the settlement again in closed session Tuesday, county Counsel Jim McBride said. “There’s more to it than money,” McBride said. “That’s why we’re still talking.”

Supervisor John Flynn said he will ask the board to finalize the settlement in open session. “It’s time to put this behind us,” he said.