A Grafton dentist has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in forfeiture after being convicted of health care fraud for breaking patients' teeth and then claiming they needed crowns in an insurance scam.
U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling announced Friday that Scott Charmoli has been sentenced to 4.5 years of incarceration and has been ordered to pay $1,043,229.31 in forfeiture. He is also responsible for reimbursing insurance companies and patients who received fraudulent crowns for their out-of-pocket expenses.
Charmoli was the owner and only dentist operating Jackson Family Dentistry in Jackson. According to Frohling's office, starting in 2015 Charmoli began telling patients they needed crowns. He then broke their teeth with a drill and took pictures of the damage he caused. He sent the images to insurance companies to support his request for reimbursement for the crown procedures.
Charmoli was convicted of five counts of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements related to health care matters.
United State District Judge Lynn Adelman called it an unusual case of fraud because Charmoli physically harmed his patients and "intentionally damaged" their teeth, according to Frohling's office.
Evidence at trial showed Charmoli performed more crowns than the majority of Wisconsin dentists, ranking in or above the 95th percentile of crowns performed each year between 2016 and 2019, according to a news release. He also billed over $4.2 million for the procedures between 2016 and 2019. From 2015 to 2019, he performed more than 700 crowns each year. According to Frohling's office, he performed over 1,000 crown procedures in both 2015 and 2016.
“Mr. Charmoli abused a position of trust and lied to his patients and their insurers simply to line his own pockets,” stated United States Attorney Frohling. “Despite already having many advantages in life, Mr. Charmoli simply wanted more, and he was willing to harm his patients physically, emotionally, and financially to fund his lifestyle. I commend the hard work of the FBI agents and the trial team in pursuing justice for the victims in this case.”
