SAVANNAH, GA: Edmund A. Booth, Jr., Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced today the guilty plea of Eric J. Baty, a chiropractor formerly of Savannah, Georgia, in U.S. District Court before U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen, Jr. Mr. Baty, indicted by a federal Grand Jury in January, pled guilty to a conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

The Indictment against Baty arose out of a joint federal and state investigation into alleged fraudulent billings to Medicare, Georgia Medicaid and private insurance companies for alleged physical therapy services provided to patients of Southside Medical and Rehabilitation Center, Savannah, Georgia. At the Rule 11 hearing, the evidence showed that from July, 2000 through June, 2005, while an owner and operator of Southside Medical & Rehabilitation Center, Baty conspired to bill over $5 million in fraudulent physical therapy claims to Medicare and Georgia Medicaid. The evidence also showed a conspiracy to defraud private insurers by creating false and fictitious medical and billing records of automobile accident victims.

Baty will be sentenced upon the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report. The charge for which he has been convicted carries a maximum sentence of five (5) years imprisonment; a fine of $250,000; and three (3) years of supervised release.

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Mr. Booth stated that the investigation was conducted by agents with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The Government was represented by Jim Durham and Brian McEvoy, Assistant United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Georgia.

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