Pictured is the Hertel & Brown Physical and Aquatic Therapy location in Warren.

The North Warren branch of a physical therapy practice where federal agents served search warrants in February was not mentioned in a Tuesday release from the U.S. Department of Justice detailing indictments of the business, its owners, and numerous employees.

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman, Hertel & Brown Physical and Aquatic Therapy main office in Erie, founders Aaron Hertel and Michael Brown, and 18 employees, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit wire and health care fraud.

Components of the alleged fraudulent activity include: allowing and requiring unlicensed technicians to provide treatment that was documented and billed as if performed by a licensed professional; recording and billing treatment times in excess of actual treatment times; failing to use group therapy codes “even when group billing codes were the only appropriate” codes; billing treatment time using the name and credentials of a physical therapist who was on vacation and not working on the day in question; allowing assistants and unlicensed personnel to treat patients with insurance that only reimbursed for treatment performed by a physical therapist and covering up who treated the patient; and changing the patient schedule, after the fact, in order to conceal that Medicare patients “did not have one on one treatment with a physical therapist as billed by the practice and required by Medicare.”

“The indictment alleges that essentially since Hertel & Brown opened in 2007, the defendants perpetrated a systematic and brazen fraud scene that bilked insurance companies and the government of millions through blatantly false billings,” Kaufman said.

“Health care fraud takes away limited resources from some of our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

Officers served search warrants at five Hertel & Brown branches, including the North Warren branch at Farm Colony Drive, in February.

The individuals named in the indictment are: Aaron W. Hertel, North East; Michael R. Brown, Erie; Sarah E. Bailey, Erie; Jessica J. Morphy, Erie; Jacqueline R. Exley, Erie; Julie A. Johnson, Erie; Bobby L. Rainey, Erie; Steve M. Bauer, Erie; Austin J. Dudenhoefer, Erie; Philip D. Sorensen Jr., Erie; Patricia S. Berchtold, Melbourne, Fla.; Jeremy R. Bowes, Erie; Jennifer M. Larmon, Waterford; Travis W. Litz, Erie; Erin M. Riffe, Conneaut, Ohio; Abigayle J. Fachetti, Erie; Lori L. Goss, Waterford; Marissa S. Hull, Waterford; Justin C. Burger, Erie; and Carl W. Lewis Jr., Lake City.

If found guilty, the defendants face up to 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs – Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Services, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General – Medicaid Fraud Control and Abuse Unit, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management – Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation leading to the indictment, according to the release.

An indictment is an accusation, according to the release. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.