Sentencings for 19 defendants in health care fraud case had been set for June, July, August, early September. Most sentencings now listed for fall in federal court in Erie.
Hertel and Brown defendants arrive in federal court in Erie
On March 3, 2025, Michael R. Brown and Aaron W. Hertel, owners of Hertel and Brown Physical & Aquatic Therapy entered federal court in Erie to plead guilty to fraud charges.
- Sentencings in the Hertel & Brown health care fraud case, originally scheduled for summer, have been mostly postponed to later in the year.
- The three main defendants — Hertel & Brown corporation and owners Aaron Hertel —and Michael Brown — have requested that their sentencing be moved from Aug. 28 to at least three months later.
- The three main defendants pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, with Hertel and Brown facing a recommended six-year prison sentence each.
(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)
What had been scheduled to be a summer full of 19 sentencings in the Hertel & Brown health care fraud case is not turning out that way.
The sentencing were supposed to start in June and run through July and August and into early September. But most of the sentencings have been rescheduled for later in the year, including into November, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Erie.
And in the latest scheduling issue, the three main defendants — Hertel & Brown Physical & Aquatic Therapy as a corporation and owners and founders Aaron W. Hertel and Michael R. Brown — have asked that their sentencings get moved from Aug. 28 to at least three months from that date, according to motions filed on July 23 and 24.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has no objection to the motions, which U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter had yet to decide as of the afternoon of July 27. Baxter has granted the other defendants’ rescheduling requests.
The corporation and Hertel, 46, and Brown, 48, pleaded guilty in March to a felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud. Baxter at that hearing set sentencing for Aug. 28.
All but three defendants have recommended sentences
In their motions to reschedule, lawyers for the corporation and Hertel and Brown said they need more time to prepare for sentencing. The motion for Brown states that the additional time is necessary to consult with Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold and probation officials to resolve unspecified “disputed matters.”
The plea agreements call for Hertel and Brown as individuals to each get sentenced to six years in federal prison. The plea deals did not cite specific amounts for fines and restitution, and other court filings in the Hertel & Brown case show that those amounts are still under discussion for some of the defendants.
All of the defendants are free on unsecured bonds of $10,000.
Other than Hertel and Brown, the only other defendant whose plea deal includes a recommended sentence is Patricia Berchtold, 66, who was the billing specialist for Hertel & Brown. The prosecution and defense agreed on three years of probation for her guilty plea to the conspiracy count.
In the cases of the other defendants, Trabold and the defense lawyers will present their arguments for specific sentences in court.
Berchtold is to be sentenced Aug. 8. Her sentencing was set at Aug. 5 when she pleaded guilty in March, but Baxter on July 28 rescheduled the hearing to Aug. 8. Berchtold will be the first of the defendants to be sentenced in the case — the largest-ever prosecution of white-collar crime in Erie.
Fraud case focused on overbilling, use of unlicensed techs
A federal grand jury in Erie indicted the corporation and 20 individual defendants in November 2021. Eighteen defendants pleaded guilty to the felony conspiracy count. Two defendants, Abigayle J. Fachetti, 34, and Marissa Sue Hull, 31, were acquitted of all charges at trial in April and one, Julie A. Johnson, 44, was convicted of a felony fraud count at the same trial.
The defendants were charged with engaging in what the FBI said was a $22 million billing fraud at the Erie-based Hertel & Brown for 14 years, from when the business started in 2007 until around the time of the indictment.
The defendants who pleaded guilty admitted to conspiring to overbill Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. The scam including billing for more treatment time than what was actually provided, billing for services that were not rendered and billing as if licensed physical therapists and licensed physical therapy assistants provided services when unlicensed technicians really did the work.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813.
Fraud among youths reflects policy failures, says Maman
Here’s How To Stay Safe
No Comment! Be the first one.