A Florida mayor is facing an insurance fraud investigation – and that’s the least of his worries.
Dale Massad, the mayor of Port Richey, Fla., was arrested during a police raid on his home Thursday. He’s facing charges including practicing medicine without a license and attempted murder. And now Florida chief financial officer Jimmy Patronis has announced that the state’s Department of Financial Services will investigate whether Massad fraudulently billed insurance companies for the illegal treatment he allegedly gave patients.
Massad once had a medical license, but he turned it in 37 years ago after Florida’s medical board filed several counts against him related to the death of a three-year-old child, according to The Tampa Bay Times. Those counts included malpractice, faulty record-keeping, and human experimentation without consent.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) began investigating Massad four months ago, after receiving tips that the former doctor was illegally practicing medicine, the Times reported. Patients told the FDLE that Massad had treated them for various injuries, injected medications, and even performed minor surgical procedures.
The FDLE set up a sting operation in which someone feigning a knee injury went to Massad for treatment, the Times reported. Massad allegedly diagnosed a tendon injury and said he would find the proper medication.
When FDLE agents and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office raided Massad’s home to arrest him, Massad allegedly fired a .40-caliber handgun at deputies twice, the Times reported.
“He’s lucky he’s not dead,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a news conference following the arrest.
