A Louisville chiropractor pleaded guilty to numerous charges today, including health care fraud, obstruction of a criminal investigation, and tampering with a witness for his role in billing private insurance companies and government health care agencies for services that were never performed, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

According to the plea agreement, Devin Thauberger, age 46 , conspired to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare, Passport, Anthem, Humana, Geico, Shelter, Nationwide, Allstate and other insurance carriers, that falsely and fraudulently sought reimbursement for services which were never provided to patients, including times in which Thauberger was out of the country and unable to provide services.

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Between April 2009 and March 2014 the defendant admits to knowingly executing a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs by submitting claims for services, which were never performed.  According to the charges, false claims were submitted and billed on at least thirteen occasions and totaled nearly $214,672.11. Then between May 2015 and July 2015, Thauberger, while being on bond, aided and abetted by others, submitted claims to Allstate, a health care benefit program, for services which were never performed.

Also, beginning in August 2013, and continuing until at least July 2014, Thauberger admitted to willfully obstructing the criminal investigation of Federal health care violations by altering or causing patient records to be altered and attempting to influence the testimony of witnesses.

During all times relevant to this indictment, Thauberger was a doctor of chiropractic, licensed to practice in the state of Kentucky, and had been a chiropractor for approximately nine (9) years.  Thauberger Chiropractic, P.S.C. (TCP) was a Kentucky corporation located at 8511 Preston Highway, in Louisville, Kentucky.  Defendant Thauberger was the president and sole owner of TCP from 2005 through all times relevant to this Indictment.

Co-defendant Trisha Muir, pleaded guilty to a single charge on September 1, 2015, before District Judge Greg N. Stivers. According to the plea agreement, beginning in 2010, she became employed by TCP and reported directly to defendant Thauberger. By April 2011, Muir was responsible for billing for services purportedly provided by TCP, which included submitting reimbursement claims to insurance companies and patients for chiropractic services purportedly provided by TCP. After Muir became aware of the investigation, she admitted to participating in concealing the fraud, and instructed others to do the same, by making changes to patient files and other documentation to support the fraudulent billings.

At sentencing, the United States has agreed to dismiss counts 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Second Superseding Indictment, agree that a sentenced of 41 months in prison is the appropriate disposition of this case, not object that the last 5 months of the sentence be served on home incarceration and stipulate that the amount of loss involved in this case is $214,672.11 which the defendant must pay by the date of sentencing. Sentencing is scheduled before Judge Stivers on June 2, 2016, in Louisville.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lettricea Jefferson-Webb and Joe Ansari and is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Kentucky Office of Attorney General’s Kentucky Medical Fraud Control Unit.

The case against a former Lexington Bible study director will be sent to a grand jury.

Tony Sasnett, 39, faces multiple counts of third-degree rape.  He faced a judge Tuesday morning. Police say Sasnett asked a 16-year-old girl to send him nude photos of herself. Detectives confirm that the victim is someone Sasnett met at his church, Greater Faith Apostolic.

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The judge found probable cause to waive the case to a grand jury.One of the rape charges have been dropped by the Commonwealth because it reportedly happened in Jessamine County, not Fayette. The court also found that Sasnett was in a position of trust.

According to court documents, the victim told police she had sex five different times with Sasnett. He is not only facing rape charges, he is also accused of using electronic communication to get a minor for a sexual offense and one count of sexual abuse.

In court nearly two weeks ago, Sasnett’s attorney entered a not guilty plea and vigorously denied the charges.

Greater Faith Apostolic’s website once listed Sasnett as the Home Bible Study Director. LEX 18 checked the website again this morning and now there is no mention of Sasnett.

Sasnett’s bond was not lowered.

The Cynthiana Police chief confirms two gas station robberies were committed by the same persons.

The first one happened around midnight at the Shell Station on E. Pleasant Street across from city hall. Four hours later, the Speedway on South 27 was hit.

The man was armed with a tire iron and got away with cash. He walked in and fled on foot. No vehicle was used. In both incidents, there was also footage of the same female customer in the store at the same time. Police believe the two were working together.

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The first suspect is a white male, standing 5’11 and weighing 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black Mossimo hoodie, blue jeans and boots. A white female, standing 5’2 and weighing 100 pounds was seen at both crime scenes. She has blonde hair and was wearing a pink hoodie.

No one was injured. If you have information, contact law enforcement.

A former youth football and wrestling coach accused of sexually abusing children in Oregon and Washington has been sentenced to nearly 19 years in prison, KPTV in Portland reported Monday.

Kenneth Scott Carroll, 43, was arrested in Montana and extradited to Oregon in September 2014.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to four counts of first-degree sex abuse and two counts of second-degree sodomy, KPTV said. He was sentenced Monday.

Clackamas County deputies said his crimes in Oregon occurred in or around Colton from 1998 to 2002. He was a football and wrestling coach for the Colton School District, including serving as the wrestling coach at Colton Middle School from 1994-1998.

In Washington, police said there was evidence he might have been abusing children as early as 1997.

Washington detectives said they found evidence that Carroll had recorded the abuse.

Investigators allegedly found more than 100,000 images of child pornography and 1,000 videos on Carroll’s computer at his Puyallup home.

Carroll formerly coached with the Puyallup Roughriders football program and the Puyallup Falcons junior wrestling team, the State Patrol said. Both programs are meant for boys, and participants range in age from 6-15.

Pictures on Carroll’s Facebook page appear to show him coaching the Roughriders as recently as 2013.

Kenneth “Scott” Carroll. From Facebook.

Investigators originally said they identified eight victims in the two states. Most of them are now adults who were abused in their early teens, according to detectives.

“This investigation began as two cases of sexual abuse of minors,” said Lt. Ron Mead, commander of the Washington State Patrol’s exploited children’s task force. ” It didn’t take long for us to find evidence that Mr. Carroll had compounded his crimes by videotaping the abuse.

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“With Mr. Carroll now jailed in Oregon, we hope that other victims in our area will feel safe coming forward.”

Mead said it’s important for every victim to come forward, even if Carroll already faces a significant number of charges. He also acknowledged that coming forward is difficult.

“We want to document every single case of abuse, and make sure each victim knows we take their case seriously,” Mead said.

Anyone with information about the case can contact detectives at 360-704-2410 or metcf@wsp.wa.gov.

Carroll was sentenced in Oregon to 18 years and nine months in prison Monday.

He must also register as a sex offender.

A retired Colonel in the Kentucky National Guard and the former Director of Bluegrass Challenge Academy was found guilty last week in U.S. Magistrate Court of failing to report child abuse, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Following a three-day trial, a federal jury deliberated approximately two hours before finding John Wayne Smith, 65, guilty of the charge.

Smith was charged in a federal superseding indictment on April 22, 2015, with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 2258.  The statute applies to facilities and individuals on federal lands and requires that individuals in certain positions, such as school administrators, report to law enforcement or child protective services as soon as possible if they learn of facts that give reason to suspect child abuse.  While the statute was enacted in 1990, this appears to be the first trial under the statute.

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According to the evidence presented at trial, from 2003 to December 2013, Smith was the Director of Bluegrass Challenge Academy, a quasi-military school for students at-risk of not finishing high school.  The Academy is located on Fort Knox military base.  In early-February 2013, Smith learned that a 17-year-old female student at the Academy had alleged Stephen Miller, one of the staff members, forced her to touch his clothed penis.  Around the same time, Smith also learned that another female student had accused Miller of touching her inappropriately.  There was an internal investigation and Miller was reprimanded, but continued to work at the school, where his office was on the same hall where the female cadets showered and slept.  Smith did not report the matter to law enforcement or child protective services.  Law enforcement only became aware of the allegations through the investigation of an August 2013 incident, in which another female student accused a staff member of forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

In July 2015, Stephen Miller pled guilty to conduct related to both February 2013 incidents, as well as the August 2013 incident.  Before Smith hired Miller to work with female students at the Academy, Miller worked as a police officer in Leitchfield, Kentucky.  He resigned the position following complaints of inappropriate conduct toward two women.  On February 1, 2016, Miller was sentenced to 48 months for conduct related to four separate incidents at the Academy.

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on May 19, 2016.He faces a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda E. Gregory and Stephanie M. Zimdahl are prosecuting the case.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from the Army Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.