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Hundreds, no make that thousands, of people gave a vial of blood in exchange for $30. Upon delivery of each blood sample to Pantox Laboratory, a San Diego, California, testing facility, Pantox would pay $45. The $15 extra went into the pockets of Jonathon Vargas “JoJo” Garcia and his wife, Maria Remedios Rillo “Medette” Garcia of Irvine, and Richard Go Asares of Lakewood. It added up fast, especially since the three were able to collect on 10,000 vials of blood.
Once the sample hit Pantox, tests were performed and Medicare or Medical was billed. In total, more that $1 million was taken from the federal and state systems. Investigation revealed that Pantox was an unwitting participant in the scheme, and the company has agreed to pay back a total of $220,000.
The three suspects, however, knew exactly what they were doing according to authorities and have been charged with multiple counts of insurance fraud.
The scam involved the use of blood drawing “subcontractors,” at least one of whom concentrated on high school students for her samples.
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