Dr. Scott Charmoli Wisconsin dentist Dr. Scott Charmoli built
a robust practice in the Jackson area and attracted patients from all walks of life.
Some troubling allegations rose to the surface toward the end of his career.
According to an insurance executive who testified against the doctor during a trial in March
2022, Charmoli put an outrageous number of crowns into his patient's teeth and had been
for several years.
Unfortunately for the pawns in his scheme, the dentist's plan went undetected until after
he sold his practice.
“Broken Teeth” The medical team that took over noticed something
peculiar when they reviewed the files Charmoli left behind.
The industry average in Wisconsin is less than six crowns installed for every 100 patients.
Charmoli's rate was more than five times higher.
Following an investigation, prosecutors determined that the doctor, who had been practicing dentistry
since 1986, was misleading patients into believing that their healthy teeth needed a crown.
First, Charmoli showed his patients X-rays of their teeth and pointed to "broken teeth"
that needed crowns.
Of course, these patients didn't know what they were looking at, so they trusted the
dentist.
Then, Charmoli went in and intentionally broke their teeth so he could take more X-rays to
send to the insurance company.
Then, the insurance companies sent him a fat reimbursement check, and Charmoli smiled all
the way to the bank.
He submitted claims totaling nearly $750,000 between January 2016 and June 2018, out of
which he was reimbursed $318,600.
Throughout the first half of 2019, he brought in nearly $115,000 more by continuing the
scam.
But what about the rest of the money?
If insurance only covered 300,000, who paid the rest?
Those costs fell on the patients—patients who were charged massive copays for procedures
they didn't need.
Installations A crown installation is one of the most common
dental procedures, but many patients don’t know the ins and outs on when they actually
need one vs when they don’t.
Charmoli exploited this uncertainty by convincing his patients that a crown was the only option
to repair a problem that didn't actually exist.
In broad terms, a crown – also known as a cap – is something that’s installed
over a damaged tooth to protect the crack or deterioration.
In the long run, this dental solution can restore the tooth so it won't need to be extracted.
This is a more dramatic move than a simple filling, and crowns are usually ordered when
a simple filling won't do the trick.
Caps are made of various materials, including resin, ceramic, porcelain, or certain types
of metal and they usually last for about a decade, give or take a few years.
Of course, this solution doesn't come cheap.
Based on the size of the crown and the amount of damage in the tooth, an individual cap
can cost $1,500 or more.
Although insurance can cover at least some of that cost, the patient is typically on
the hook for roughly half of the bill, depending on what type of insurance the individual has.
Red Flags Even though many patients receive a crown
each year, the sheer number of orders coming out of Charmoli's practice raised some red
flags.
However, those weren't the only red flags.
Charmoli's former assistant, Bailey Bayer, testified that an increasingly steady flow
of patients poured into the clinic.
This became apparent after the dentist moved his practice into an even larger space.
There was a huge hike in appointments made for crown installations.
Bayer also explained that patients got a lower standard of care as time went on.
Although she didn't have much experience when she started working for Charmoli, she could
tell something was off about the way he ordered X-rays.
Specifically, she said that the dentist procured such images after drilling into a patient's
tooth, telling her that "insurance will want to see this."
At one point, Bayer said Charmoli was treating the procedure as "a sales pitch," describing
a work environment that became so unbearable that she eventually quit.
Some of his patients grew skeptical of the dentist's medical advice.
As Todd Tedeschi told jurors, he was talked into receiving two crowns during one visit,
stressing that neither of the teeth in question had been hurting.
But again, Charmoli was the professional, and Tedeschi trusted him.
The lawyer representing several former patients argued that Charmoli relied on that trust
to defraud his victims.
Medical Malpractice Although the dentist's behavior was suspicious,
he might have escaped criminal charges altogether if he hadn't sold his practice in 2019.
Once the new owners combed through the records, they were shocked by the details they found.
Then, when investigators learned of the inconsistencies, they dug even deeper.
The amount of money Charmoli raked in through his scheme was staggering.
In 2014 alone, he put in 434 crowns and made roughly $1.4 million.
The next year, he installed more than twice as many caps and made about $2.5 million.
Charges The criminal investigation led to an indictment
against Charmoli in 2020.
Meanwhile, he faced over 100 lawsuits from patients similar to Tedeschi.
Following the indictment, prosecutor Julie Stewart said her office was inundated with
complaints from former patients.
She explained that some of them were extremely vulnerable individuals in tough relationships,
recently widowed, survivors of cancer, and living paycheck to paycheck trying to afford
the copays required for the unnecessary procedures he was billing.
Pako Major, the new owner of Jackson Family Dentistry, addressed the controversy in a
post on the clinic's official website.
As a medical professional, he took an oath to "do no harm" to his patients, so he felt
the ethical obligation to report activity that he believed to be suspicious.
Aftermath When Charmoli went to trial in March 2022,
jurors heard enough to believe that the dentist was guilty of fraud.
He faced eight charges in total, and the jury voted to convict him on all but one count.
Specifically, he was found guilty of five fraud counts and two counts of making false
statements.
He could spend two decades behind bars, but insiders predicted that he wouldn't receive
the maximum prison term upon sentencing.
In addition to the criminal conviction, he’s still facing a slew of civil lawsuits, which
received a stay from the court while the trial was underway.
Unfortunately, Charmoli is just one of several dentists who have faced criminal prosecution
for fraud in recent years.
Here are three more who ended up on the wrong side of the law!
Salwan Adjaj One Oregon dentist had his license suspended
in 2020 after receiving millions in COVID-19 relief payments that he used to pay his personal
bills.
Reports indicate Salwan Adjaj had practices in several communities when he applied for
federal financial aid.
Prosecutors said that he completed dozens of such applications and filled them in with
information about fake businesses and the names of people other than himself.
Investigators didn't have to look too hard to find out where the money was going since
he used his own address on the forms.
Although the government didn't actually pay him for most of the fraudulent claims, he
had better luck when he started applying for relief through the Restaurant Revitalization
Fund.
Authorities say he invented several restaurants across Florida and, as with the dentistry-related
applications, he entered his home address.
In total, the Small Business Administration approved almost $8 million in payments based
on the scam.
He was arrested in late 2021 and was ordered to be held behind bars until he appeared in
court again.
Of course, this wasn't his first run-in with scandal.
The state dentistry board issued a reprimand in 2015 after Ajdaj skipped mandated sanitization
tests at two of his clinics.
About five years later, he was accused of illicitly ordering controlled substances that
he used on himself and sold illegally without a prescription to other people.
Authorities determined that Dr. Adjaj was under the influence while performing dental
procedures for four years.
Ajdaj ultimately acknowledged what he was accused of, costing him his medical license.
Laurel Elch Sometimes it isn’t the dentist, but the
assistant!
In 2021, Nevada police responded to a burglar alarm and discovered some cash was missing..
Authorities determined that an employee of the dental clinic broke into the building
and stole nearly $23,000 dollars.
Investigators soon narrowed down their field of suspects and focused on Laurel Elch.
But stealing cash wasn’t just the only thing.
Elch later confessed to removing 13 teeth from a patient even though she wasn't trained
or licensed to perform such a procedure!
She also admitted that she ingested an anesthetic meant for use at the clinic.
Upon questioning, she confessed to a range of criminal acts.
She was charged with felonies, including burglary, grand larceny, and performing surgery without
a license.
Additionally, she faced a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit burglary.
Maria Loyo-Morales Some people want to be a dentist but don't
want to go through all the training it takes to do it!
That appeared to be the case for one Nevada woman accused of operating a dental clinic
without a license to practice medicine.
Authorities say Maria Loyo-Morales brought in tens of thousands of dollars while posing
as a dentist in Las Vegas.
Security footage captured her performing dental procedures that she wasn’t licensed to do.
Furthermore, investigators believe she used household power tools instead of sophisticated
dental equipment.
Imagine going to the dentist and they whip out a power drill!
The disturbing account of unsanitary conditions included one patient's complaint that a dog
ran loose in the clinic while she underwent treatment.
One individual told investigators that Loyo-Morales picked up something from the floor and attempted
to put it directly into a patient's mouth.
Authorities say patients also registered complaints after they received services from Loyo-Morales.
Some of the most outrageous complaints involved poorly installed crowns and recycled dental
implants.
A police report described multiple patients who later complained that their faces had
swollen extensively and the procedures resulted in discomfort.
In response, Loyo-Morales was accused of distributing antibiotics she illegally obtained from Mexico.
Ultimately, prosecutors brought eight felony counts against her, including performing surgery
without a license and unlawful dentistry practice.
More than two decades earlier, records show Loyo-Morales received a court injunction preventing
her from practicing dentistry without a license.
A similar demand was handed down in 2009.
The most recent probe began in 2019, stemming from allegations that she'd been dealing to
patients.
When one investigator responded to the illegal clinic, they found two patients hiding in
the employee break room.
Another patient's complaint involved a tooth extraction during which the supposed anesthesia
he received didn’t provide the intended effect.
Furthermore, he told authorities that another dentist assured him that the tooth didn’t
need to be removed in the first place.
Detectives tracked down several other patients after conducting a search warrant at the clinic,
where they found documents and an array of dental equipment.
As for how much Loyo-Morales made by posing as a dentist, authorities say one customer's
bill was more than $24,000.
Another individual reportedly paid her $5,000 in cash and a piece of land worth about $20,000.
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