Jury finds physician guilty of practicing without license

EAST BRUNSWICK — A local physician has been convicted on charges he practiced medicine without a license and stole $122,000 from Medicare and about $28,000 from other medical insurance carriers.

In addition to practicing medicine without a license, Benjamin Levine, 69, was found guilty of theft by deception, two counts of falsifying records and insurance fraud, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan.

A

jury deliberated more than five hours on

Nov. 6 before returning the guilty verdicts at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.

At the request of Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Brian D. Gillet, Superior Court Judge Lorraine Pullen revoked Levine's bail. He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center while awaiting sentencing. Levine is facing 21½ years in a New Jersey state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 11.

Levine was arrested on Dec. 9, 2005, at his medical office on Cornwall Drive in East Brunswick following an investigation by Sgt. Daniel DelBagno and Investigators Robert Torrisi, Michael Daniewicz and Mark Bertelson, all of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. Members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, assisted.

During an 11-day trial, Gillet presented evidence and testimony showing that Levine continued to practice medicine between July 2003 and December 2005, despite a warning from the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners that the law required him to have medical malpractice insurance. Without the insurance, the board suspended his license.

Levine also continued receiving payments from Medicare and other insurance companies, totaling approximately $150,000, according to the prosecutor's office. In addition, Levine sent in a false application to the U.S. Drug EnforcementAdministration in March 2005, claiming he was a licensed physician, enabling him to obtain a DEA identification number and continue prescribing medicine.

In July 2006, Levine applied for medical malpractice insurance but failed to disclose that he had been indicted.

The jury acquitted Levine of a count of tamperingwith records that were being sought during the police investigation, and he was acquitted of a count of witness tampering, in which it was alleged that he told an office worker not to cooperate with investigators.

This is not the first time Levine has been incarcerated.

In 1996 Levine was convicted on nine counts of sexual contact for fondling patients and was sentenced to 178 days in county jail, a sentenced he completed in 1997, news sources including The Associated Press reported.