Medicare fraud fugitive Garcia nabbed in Canary Islands

[babylonsister]

Cuban accent gives away Medicare fraud fugitive
The thick Cuban accent of a South Florida Medicare fraud defendant sparked the end of his life on the lam in the Canary Islands.

BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]


Alcides Garcia's thick Cuban accent was a dead giveaway.

In February, Garcia went to a shipping company in the Canary Islands to have his personal belongings sent from Miami to the Spanish island off the northwestern coast of Africa.

''The business owner became suspicious because he kept saying he was Mexican, but the owner detected he had a heavy Cuban accent,'' said Miami FBI special agent Judy Orihuela.

So, the owner Googled Garcia's name on the Internet and up popped a Miami Herald/El Nuevo story published in January that described Garcia as a Cuban-born fugitive wanted on Medicare fraud charges in South Florida. The story, which carried a mug shot of Garcia, confirmed his identity. The owner called the FBI in Miami with an anonymous tip and case agent Robert Cessario contacted the bureau's legal attaché in Madrid.

Garcia later checked into a hotel in the capital city, using his real name and a false Mexican passport. The Spanish National Police did a background check and arrested him on a provisional FBI warrant in mid-March.

Garcia, 44, was flown to Miami last week to face charges -- again -- of submitting $10.7 million in false claims to Medicare between 2002 and 2004. The federal healthcare program paid $2.2 million to his Hialeah medical equipment business, A&Y Medical Supply, before his initial arrest last June.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1056693.html