Austin Area Patient Recruiter Pleads Guilty to Receiving Kickbacks in Health Care Fraud Scheme

In Austin this afternoon, 68-year-old patient recruiter Glen Elwood McKenzie, Jr., of Cedar Park, TX, pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a Health Care Fraud scheme announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Appearing before United States Magistrate Judge Mark Lane, McKenzie pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback law and one count of soliciting and receiving kickbacks. Each count calls for up to five years in federal prison.  McKenzie remains on bond pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.

According to court records, Dr. William Joseph Dubin and his son, Dr. David Fox Dubin were licensed psychologists who operated Psychological A.R.T.S. in Austin.  Between April 2011 and March 2013, McKenzie was the President of the Board of Directors of an emergency shelter house located approximately eighty miles from Austin.  That facility provided temporary shelter for crisis intervention and mental health services to children and youth ages 5 to 17 who had been removed from their homes by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.  By pleading guilty, McKenzie admitted to receiving over $15,000 in kickbacks from the doctors during that time for using his position at the emergency shelter and his contacts with other similar shelters to refer children and youth to Psychological A.R.T.S. for comprehensive mental health assessments. 

In July, a grand jury indicted the doctors on federal charges including: conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback law; five counts of paying illegal kickbacks; conspiracy to commit health care fraud; seven counts of health care fraud and aiding and abetting health care fraud; and, six counts of aggravated identity theft.   The indictment alleges that from January 2011 to June 2015, the doctors caused fraudulent billings totaling approximately $300,000 to be submitted to the Texas Medicaid program and the Texas Vocational Rehabilitation Services program for various psychological services. 

Jury selection for both doctors is scheduled for January 2, 2018, before U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin.  Upon conviction, each count related to illegal kickbacks calls for up to five years in federal prison; each count related to Health Care Fraud calls for up to ten years in federal prison; and, each count related to aggravated identity theft calls for up to two years in federal prison.  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, together with investigators from the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, investigated this case. Special Assistant United States Attorney Rex Beasley is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government. 

An indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.