Article - March 30, 2008 - Medford Transcript

Medford man arraigned on fraud, forgery charges

Medford - A Medford man was arraigned on 94 counts of committing insurance fraud, larceny, attempted larceny, forgery, and uttering in connection with an insurance scheme involving a Walpole lawyer and his business.

Gerald Schena, 57, was charged with motor vehicle insurance fraud (22 counts), conspiracy to commit motor vehicle insurance fraud (22 counts), larceny over $250 (20 counts), forgery (14 counts), uttering (14 counts) and attempted larceny (2 counts).

The case was referred by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) to the Attorney General’s Office in February 2007. Authorities allege that co-defendant Bruce Namenson, 45, recruited a local chiropractor to work at Advanced Chiropractic (Advanced) in Boston, which was managed by Schena.

Namenson, an attorney with a personal injury practice in Quincy, Namenson & Associates, represented clients who had been injured in car accidents. These clients were treated for their injuries at Advanced.

During this period, and without the chiropractor’s knowledge, Schena allegedly altered treatment notes and forged the chiropractor’s signature, making it appear as though patients were treated more times than they actually were. In addition, Schena made it appear that Namenson’s clients who never received treatment at Advanced were treated there.

Schena and Namenson allegedly submitted the altered notes and inflated bills to insurance companies, which paid Advanced. Namenson allegedly used these notes and bills to make it appear that his clients had reached personal injury protection (PIP) or tort threshold (having received $2000 or more in medical treatment), made personal injury claims against insurance companies, and collected personal injury settlements.

Advanced Chiropractic billed One Beacon Insurance Company for treatment allegedly provided to another co-defendant and former employee of Namenson, Janet Dejesus. Namenson made a bodily injury claim to One Beacon Insurance Company on Dejesus’ behalf. Upon further investigation it was revealed that Dejesus was never treated at Advanced, and that treatment notes submitted to the insurance company were false. ]

Dejesus and Namenson still claimed to One Beacon Insurance Company that she had been treated at Advanced. During her testimony before the grand jury, Dejesus allegedly lied, claiming that she was treated at Advanced.

Before Advanced Chiropractic opened in 2004, Schena operated another business, Advantage Physical Therapy (Advantage) in Boston. Namenson’s clients also received treatment at Advantage.

Several of Namenson’s clients were treated at physical therapy businesses other than Advantage. These clients were treated significantly fewer times than Namenson and Schena claimed to the insurance companies, in an attempt to make it appear that they had reached tort threshold.

Namenson and Schena allegedly forged the signatures of physical therapists and used their professional license numbers without permission. These physical therapists never treated Namenson’s clients, nor were these clients ever treated at Advantage.

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