An Imperial County dentist and his office manager pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court Tuesday.

Dr. Javad Aghaloo entered a guilty plea to conspiring to commit health care fraud by billing Medicare for procedures that were not covered, not performed, or otherwise not necessary. According to court records, Dr. Aghaloo and others recruited Medicare beneficiaries to get dental work done. Once a Medicare beneficiary was in one of Aghaloo's offices, some type of procedure was performed, usually a tooth extraction, and then a false claim was submitted to Medicare. Since tooth extractions are not covered by Medicare, Aghaloo's office instead submitted false claims for procedures that are covered. 

According to court records, Aghaloo submitted over 7,000 false claims between March 2016 and October 2018. The claims totaled more than $18 million. Aghaloo's office received nearly $8.5 million from Medicare. Theresa Flores, the office manager, was charged with obstructing a Medicare audit by submitting the false documents to a federal auditor for the Medicare program.

Aghaloo was ordered to forfeit $1 million in property and pay restitution to Medicare in the amount of $8,474,000.  Sentencing is set for January 12, 2024.