Racketeering Charges Detail Scam To Defraud Workers’ Comp Fund

A chain of Cleveland area medical clinics that specialize in treating injured workers, its former co-owner and a doctor who worked there have been indicted on criminal racketeering charges. The Medical Care Group — which has had offices in Cleveland, North Olmsted, Parma, Warrensville Heights and Euclid — former co-owner Dianne Javier and Dr. Stephen Bernie were named in 170-count indictment. Prosecutors say between 2008 and 2014, the accused ran a criminal enterprise that systematically defrauded Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation by billing it for procedures that were never done and by inflating the percentage of disability for injured workers, thereby making them eligible for higher payments from the state.