TRENTON
- Division of Criminal Justice Director
Vaughn L. McKoy announced that a former
North Jersey chiropractor was sentenced
for practicing chiropractic medicine after
his license was suspended and then submitting
nearly $100,000 in billings to insurance
companies for medical services and treatments
provided to patients while his license
was suspended.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden Brown, Philip Potacco, 53,
Miller Road, Kinnelon, Morris County,
was ordered by Essex County Superior Court
Judge Thomas R. Vena to serve three years
probation and to pay more than $48,000
in restitution. Potacco was sentenced
following his guilty plea to a charge
of theft by deception. The criminal charge
stemmed from a Sept.6, 2005 State Grand
Jury indictment obtained by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor.
At the Dec. 12 guilty plea before Judge
Vena, Potacco admitted that from Dec.1,
1996 through Sept. 30, 2000, to practicing
chiropractic medicine even though his
license had been suspended by the Board
of Chiropractic Examiners on three separate
occasions since 1985. An investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice -
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
determined that, despite not having a
valid license to practice chiropractic
medicine, Potacco continued to treat patients
and provide chiropractic procedures while
employed at chiropractic facilities located
in Little Falls (Passaic County) and South
Orange (Essex County).
Potacco also admitted to billing First
Trenton Insurance Company, New Jersey
Manufacturers Insurance Company, and State
Farm Insurance Company $98,175 in connection
with the treatment of patients purportedly
injured in automobile accidents. The insurance
companies paid $48,022 of the total amount
billed. On May 15, 2002, the Chiropractic
Board accepted the voluntary surrender
of Potacco’s license for practicing
chiropractic medicine while suspended.
State Investigators Dennis Mazone and
Laura Parisi, Civil Investigator Errol
English, and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas
Vasile were assigned to the investigation.
DAG Vasile represented the Division of
Criminal Justice - Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing. The
case was referred to the Office of the
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor by the State
Farm Insurance Company, New Jersey Manufacturers
Insurance Company and the Division of
Consumer Affairs’ Enforcement Bureau.
