Hialeah Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco turned herself into the FBI final Thursday following an indictment on healthcare fraud fees. Pacheco is accused of billing personal insurers thousands and thousands of {dollars} for providers at her habit remedy middle, Florida Life Restoration and Rehabilitation LLC.
In line with a grand jury indictment, Pacheco’s enterprise allegedly submitted $19.1 million in fraudulent payments to a number of insurance coverage corporations, together with Aetna, from July 2017 to August 2020. The enterprise, which ceased operations in 2022, was registered by her husband, Daniel Pacheco, who has not been charged.
The indictment additionally fees Pacheco with defrauding the U.S. authorities by submitting false enterprise mortgage purposes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She is accused of falsely claiming her enterprise was not engaged in unlawful actions when making use of for loans. 4 corporations owned by the Pacheco household reportedly obtained over $500,000 in federal Paycheck Safety Program and different pandemic loans. Pacheco has said these funds have been used to pay staff and maintain the companies.
Pacheco, 37, an authorized nurse, and her husband presently run Pacheco Medical Heart, a main care clinic and substance abuse rehabilitation facility in Hialeah.
The councilwoman made her first look on Thursday afternoon earlier than Justice of the Peace Choose Lauren F. Louis in Miami federal courtroom.
– Commercial –
Pacheco appeared earlier than Justice of the Peace Choose Lauren F. Louis in Miami federal courtroom on Thursday afternoon.
The federal fees might doubtlessly result in her removing from workplace. Governor Ron DeSantis has beforehand suspended native elected officers dealing with legal fees. Below Hialeah’s metropolis constitution, the Metropolis Council would appoint a substitute if Pacheco is eliminated.
Pacheco was elected to the Metropolis Council in November 2023 after 4 makes an attempt. She is a Cuban-American; her household migrated to the USA in 1964 and she or he was born and raised in Hialeah.
– Commercial –
A historical past of authorized points
Pacheco has a historical past of authorized points. In 2004, at age 17, she confronted fees of aggravated assault with a lethal weapon, battery, and legal mischief in a home incident, leading to six months of probation.
In 2011, Pacheco was charged once more, this time in Miami-Dade County, with one felony depend of kid abuse with out hurt. She stated her son instructed a trainer that Pacheco had spanked him. When she refused to talk to the police officer, she stated, the police arrested her. She pleaded not responsible and prosecutors dropped the cost.
Between 2002 and 2012, Pacheco additionally obtained quite a few site visitors citations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Pacheco posted a YouTube video 24 hours earlier than her arrest, blaming the Hialeah administration for her authorized troubles.
“I would like you to know that I blame the Hialeah administration for something that occurs to me,” she stated within the video. “I’ve been threatened each legally and verbally. They’re looking for a technique to do away with me.”
Within the video, Pacheco used a clip from a council assembly of a remark Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo Jr. made about her in a heated debate concerning town’s place on marijuana use.
In a written assertion, Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo Jr. distanced the fees from Pacheco’s position as an elected official.
“My administration has labored arduous to lift the optimistic picture of our metropolis,” Bovo stated. “This case isn’t solely disconcerting but in addition very unhappy for our neighborhood. This is not going to cease us from bettering the standard of lifetime of our residents and offering them with the perfect providers.”
