Thief River Falls Chiropractor Sentenced To 27 Months In Prison For Wire Fraud

A Thief River Falls chiropractor has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for wire fraud.

On Tuesday, United States Attorney Erica MacDonald announced the sentencing of Steven Richard Wiseth, 36 of Thief River Falls, in U.S. District Court. Wiseth plead guilty to one count of wire fraud on January 17, 2019.

According to his guilty plea and court documents, starting around March of 2013 and continuing through April of 2015, Wiseth, a chiropractor and owner of Health Quest Family Chiropractic in Thief River Falls, orchestrated a scheme to defraud health insurers by submitting false and fraudulent claims for chiropractic services.

Wiseth also admitted to submitting false bills for services by misrepresenting the services that were actually provided to patients. Over the course of the two-year scheme, Wiseth billed the insurance companies more than $3.1 million, including bills for hundreds of treatments that were not provided or over billed. The insurance companies paid Wiseth and Health Quest more than $1.1 million.

Wiseth will serve 27 months in prison, one year of supervised release, and be ordered to pay $337,195 in restitution.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau and the United States Postal Inspection Service.