Mexican Doctors Arrested on U.S. Federal Fraud Charges

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MCALLEN, Texas — Two Mexican doctors who operated a clinic in the Mexican border city of Reynosa are facing federal charges in the U.S. in connection with a fraud scheme that they allegedly ran for more than 10 years.

Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas reveal that husband and wife Hernandez Melchor had a medical clinic in Reynosa and would allegedly help individuals file thousands of fake insurance claims for U.S. clients.

The policy holders would fill out false claim forms in the United States  and deliver them to the two doctors in Reynosa. The doctors would prepare and sign corresponding accident reports for each fake accident and injury, according to the charges. 

The more than 50,000 fake insurance claims were sent to the insurance company known as AFLAC. The company dispursed more than $5,000,000 to their policy holders, the indictment filed against the two doctors revealed. Both doctors would allegedly receive between $10 and $15 U.S. dollars per fake accident report that they helped their customers submit.

A federal grand jury handed down an indictment against the two doctors on June 2011, they were later arrested in Mexico. Authorities in Mexico extradited the two doctors who made their initial appearance in a U.S. Federal court in Houston in January 22, 2016. Earlier this week, the two doctors went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos in McAllen who formally notified them of the charges in the indictment and ordered they be held without bond.

Since then both doctors have pleaded not guilty and remain in custody awaiting trial.

in 2011, 20 individuals were convicted in connection with thousands of the fake insurance claims that were filed against the insurance company, The McAllen Monitor reported at the time. One of the individuals that pleaded guilty was a police officer in the border city of Hidalgo.

Reynosa Doctors

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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