Medina doctor, wife, indicted in medical supplies scam
Feb 7, 2014, 9:56 AM | Updated: 1:45 pm
A former Army doctor from Medina is accused in a $7.3 million scam involving guns and medical supplies.
A 65-count federal indictment out of El Paso, Texas names Dr. Richard Rooney, 44, who worked at two military medical centers in Texas.
Prosecutors claim that between 2002 and 2010, a North Carolina medical supply company provided Rooney with cash, weapons and other gifts so that he would use their surgical implant products. The indictment names Julia Eller, 44, President of Allure Spine, LLC in Charlotte. The indictment also names several others including Rooney’s wife, Dr. Angie Song, 46, a former cosmetic surgeon who ran a consulting firm, and her father, Charlie Song, 71, both of Grapeview, Washington.
Investigators searched the doctor couple’s El Paso home in 2010.
“He is a nationally recognized spine surgeon,” Rooney’s lawyer, Mary Stillinger, told the ElPasoTimes.com.
“There is nothing in these allegations having to do with patient care,” she added.
“Angie Song is a well-respected, nationally recognized physician who is committed to and cares deeply about her patients,” her lawyer Leon Schydlower told the ElPasoTimes.com. “She is obviously disappointed about the charges, but is now ready for her day in court.”
Charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
The federal government is seeking forfeiture of millions of dollars and two homes here in Washington.
