Published: December 19, 2007 02:35 am      

COURTS: Dentist faces new charges

BUFFALO — A federal grand jury has laid more charges on a Newfane dentist accused of health care fraud.

Scott D. Geise, 45, 2535 W. Creek Road, is now facing a 65-count indictment on charges of theft from an employee benefit plan, false statements relating to health care matters and filing false income tax returns, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn announced Tuesday.

Geise, owner of Newfane Family Dentistry, was first arraigned July 5 on a nine-count indictment including charges of theft from an employment benefit plan and making false statements relating to health care matters.

The indictment alleges Geise assisted another person with submitting a false claim for benefits to the Laborers Local 91 Welfare Fund and submitting false claims to insurance providers for services not actually rendered.

Geise is also accused of submitting 57 false claims to health insurance providers and filing four false personal income tax returns from 2003 to 2006. He is also charged with filing three false corporate income tax returns for Newfane Family Dentistry between 2003 and 2005, as a result of allegedly under-reporting large quantities of cash that had been earned and received by the practice.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Geise’s attorney, George Muscato, who is working with attorney Joel Daniels on the case, said these new charges were expected.

“It’s just more of the same,” Muscato said. “All they’ve done is expanded the original charges. We knew these were coming right from the beginning, and now that the superseding indictment has been filed, it gives us the opportunity to address the issues.”

Muscato said Geise intends to defend himself against all allegations.

In July, Muscato’s office issued a press release denying the government’s charges, saying the case “relies on the word of an admitted union embezzler and cheat.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Moscati, who is handling the case, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The charges are the result of a joint investigation by the Department of Labor, the Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Attorney Western District’s Health Care Fraud Task Force.

Geise, a Newfane native, bought Newfane Family Dentistry in 2000.

In 2004, Geise purchased Lockport’s Old City Hall on Pine Street with the intent of turning it into a restaurant.

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.