An orthopedic surgeon caught up in a kickback scheme at Pacific Hospital in Long Beach was sentenced today to 15 months in federal prison.
Dr. Jeffrey David Gross, 55, who has homes in Dana Point and Las Vegas, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton to pay $622,936 -- the amount in bribes he accepted.
Gross pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud. The hospital's owner, Michael D. Drobot, masterminded the scheme that involved doctors, chiropractors and marketers to pay kickbacks in exchange for getting patient referrals for spinal surgeries and other services through the state's workers' compensation system, according to prosecutors.
Gross, a licensed neurosurgeon who operated Oasis Medical Providers Inc. in Laguna Niguel, was engaged in the scheme from 2008 through 2013, prosecutors said.
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