A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
5
September 10, 2015
B
ELLEVILLE
- N
ORTHVILLE
- R
OMULUS
Write-in candidates
file for mayoral post
Belleville voters will have four choices
on the ballot when they choose a mayor
Nov. 3.
Two residents, Bob Balderston and
Carol Sundell, have both declared their
intent to seek the mayor's office as write-
in candidates.
According to City Clerk/Treasurer Lisa
Long, Balderston filed his paperwork to
seek the office twoweeks ago and Sundell
filed last Tuesday.
Incumbent Mayor Kerreen Conley
filed the required paperwork to seek
reelection before the July 21 deadline and
challenger Phil Miller also met the dead-
line tohavehis name on the ballot.
While Conley and Miller's names will
appear on the ballot, voters wishing to
support Balderston or Sundell will be
required to write their names on the bal-
lot.
Voters will also choose two new coun-
cilmembers from a three-candidate field
which includes incumbents Jack Loria
and Tom Smith who are being challenged
by former Councilman James Shrove.
established in 1994, with locations in
Tustin, CA and Midland, NC, to provide
sales, logistics, service, and engineering
support for their North American cus-
tomers.
“Michigan is still recovering from the
effects of recession, and strategic invest-
ment such as these herald a return to eco-
nomic health and the success of Michigan
families,” Heise said. “Job creators want
tomove here, andwe should consider that
the surest indication of a bright future.”
Jay Click, CW Bearing USA director of
sales, thanked the State of Michigan for
the grant and the support the company
received in helping them to make this
project a reality.
Click added that company officials are
looking forward to continued support
from the state and local government as
they continue to expand their operations
inMichigan.
A Northville medical doctor who is
alleged to have prescribed unnecessary
controlled substances and billed for
unperformed office visits and diagnostic
testing pleaded guilty last week to charges
stemming from his role in a $5.7 million
health care fraud scheme.
Officials from the justice department
said that Laran Lerner, 59,entered a guilty
plea before U.S. District Judge Victoria A.
Roberts of the Eastern District of
Michigan to one count of health care fraud
and one count of structuring cash transac-
tions to avoid bank reporting require-
ments, as charged in a two-count informa-
tion filed on Aug. 21. His sentencing is set
for Jan. 24, 2016.
According to admissions made as part
of his plea agreement, Lerner lured
patients into his clinic with prescriptions
for unnecessary controlled substances.
Lerner admitted that he billed and caused
Medicare to be billed for a variety of
unnecessary prescriptions, tests and office
visits to make it appear as though he was
providing legitimate medical services
instead of medically unnecessary con-
trolled substances. According to admis-
sions made as part of his plea agreement,
Medicare was billed $5,748,237.31 as a
result of Lerner's unnecessary prescrip-
tions, office visits anddiagnostic testing.
As part of the plea agreement, Lerner
agreed to permanently surrender hisDrug
Enforcement Administration controlled
substance registration and agreed not to
re-apply in the future.
Lerner also pleaded guilty to structur-
ing cash deposits he received as a result of
his scheme to avoid triggering the require-
ment under federal law that domestic
banks file a report - called a Currency
Transaction Report - with the Secretary of
Treasury for all transactions in currency
over $10,000. Lerner admitted that he
knew about this requirement and caused
his cash deposits to be structured in $5,000
increments on consecutive days at various
branch locations in the Detroit area to
avoid detection. According to court docu-
ments, Lerner deposited $70,000 in cash in
April 2013 alone by making deposits of
$5,000 on 14 different days.
The case was investigated by the FBI,
HHS-OIG and IRS-CI, and was brought as
part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force,
supervised by the Criminal Division's
Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney's
Office of the Eastern District of Michigan.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial
Attorney Elizabeth Young of the Fraud
Section.
Plant
FROM PAGE 1
Man's best friend is looking for a
little help this month during the
Annual Romulus Downtown
Development Authority Pumpkin
Festival.
St. Aloysius Church is sponsoring
the Romulus Animal Shelter Bingo
games this year, which will take place
all weekend.
"All proceeds from the bingo
games will go toward maintenance
costs for the new animal shelter,"
noted
Councilman
William
Wadsworth, who has been directing
the efforts to build and nowmaintain
the animal shelter.
Under Wadsworth's leadership,
more than $220,000 alongwith in-kind
contributions of labor and supplies
from various local businesses has
been generated for the shelter.
The bingo games will take place at
the Romulus Senior Center, 36525
Bibbins Road in Romulus from 6-11
p.m. Friday, Sept. 18; from 2-11 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 19 and from 1-6 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 20.
In addition to the bingo games,
there will be 50/50 raffles and other
entertainment.
For more information, call the sen-
ior center at (734) 955-4140,
Wadsworth at (734) 941-0616 or Joe
Ozog at (734) 941-3466.
Bingo to aid shelter
According to court documents,
Lerner deposited $70,000 in
cash in April 2013 alone
by making deposits of $5,000
on 14 different days.
”
Doctor pleads guilty
to Medicare fraud
Job creators want to move here, and we should consider
that the surest indication of a bright future.
”
