Prescription Fraud Charges Filed Against Sarasota Doctor: Police

Sarasota FL

17 December, 2021

2:58 PM

Description

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota oncologist and the owner of Dattoli Cancer Center faces multiple charges following a prescription and insurance fraud investigation, Sarasota police said in a news release. Dr. Michael Dattoli, 64, who lives in Anna Maria, was charged with three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, three counts of criminal use of personal identification information and three counts of insurance fraud. He was arrested by Sarasota police Thursday and is being held at Sarasota County Jail. In August, investigators with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office's Pharmaceutical Diversion Unit reached out to Sarasota police about prescription fraud that happened in 2019 and 2020. Two of the pharmacies involved in the case were in Sarasota. Prescriptions for Diazepam (valium,) a controlled substance, were filled three times in Sarasota under Dattoli's wife's name, police said. In September, police were given copies of multiple prescriptions from several local pharmacies that were phoned in throughout 2020 by the Dattoli Cancer Center. The prescriptions were filled and picked up the same day by Dattoli, who provided his driver's license as identification, police said. Dr. Michael Dattoli faces multiple charges following a prescription and insurance fraud investigation. (Sarasota County Sheriff's Office)An unnamed victim, who left the Dattoli Cancer Center at the end of 2020 after working there for about five years, told police that while checking a state database for controlled substances in September, he noticed several fraudulent prescriptions were written by Dattoli in 2020. He said that three of the fraudulent prescriptions were written to Dattoli's wife, though he never saw her as a patient. The victim was shown a copy of the phoned-in prescriptions during his interview with police and said he never authorized them. When police interviewed Dattoli's wife in October, she told them that she had never been a patient at the center, that the prescriptions were not hers and that she has never taken valium. Dattoli's bank records showed the same dates, total purchase price and stores where fraudulent prescriptions were filled, picked up and purchased by him, police said. His Florida Blue insurance policy documents showed the fraudulent prescriptions for Diazepam submitted in June 2020, August 2020 and October 2020 for Dattoli's wife, who is a dependent on his policy. The documents also provided Dattoli's biographical information, the date the prescriptions were filled and the doctor prescribing them, who is the victim, police said. This case is an active and ongoing investigation, police said. Sarasota detectives believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department Narcotics Unit at 941-263-6009 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS or online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com.