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TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist today announced that two Miami-Dade residents were arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud and theft. Miami dentist Lorenzo Puentes and Francisco Torres, the owner of the dental clinic where both men worked, were arrested for their involvement in a scheme that defrauded the Medicaid program out of more than $20,000. A third individual was arrested in March and pled guilty to fraud in June.

Crist’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit launched an investigation last October into allegations that an unlicensed dentist was performing dental work on Miami patients. Orlando Sotolongo was arrested in March for posing as dentist Lorenzo Puentes. Sotolongo worked with Puentes, 67, at Puentes Dental Services, a Miami clinic managed by Torres, 41. The investigation, which continued after Sotolongo’s arrest, determined that both Puentes and Torres were aware that Sotolongo was not a licenced dentist but allowed him to continue treating patients, providing invasive dental services such as extractions and issuing prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers. After Sotolongo treated the patients, Puentes would sign the patient chart as if he had provided the services himself.

“Medicaid exists to ensure that those who need care are able to receive it,” said Crist. “Cashing in on a scheme to defraud taxpayers is bad enough, but to use an unlicensed person to treat patients is horrific.”

Patient charts were used to submit claims to the Medicaid program, using Puentes’ Medicaid provider number indicating he had actually treated the patients. Torres and Puentes received more than $20,000 in fraudulent reimbursements from the Medicaid program.

Puentes and Torres were booked yesterday into the Miami-Dade County jail. They will be charged with one count each of organized fraud and grand theft, both second-degree felonies. If convicted of all charges, each man could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $20,000. The case will be prosecuted by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Sotolongo pled guilty in June to practicing dentistry without a license and Medicaid fraud and was sentenced to five years of probation.

A copy of the arrest affidavit is available at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6V6JFT/$file/PuentesTorresAffidavit.pdf