P.K. Lim Sentenced to One Year In Federal Prison for Role In Prescription Fraud
Huntington Pharmacy was often used by San Marinans for prescription needs until it closed in December 2011 after its owners were arrested for alleged health care fraud.
On Monday, Feb. 8, former co-owner Phic K. (P.K.) Lim was sentenced to one year in federal prison for his involvement.
Ken Veronda, Southwestern Academy head master and a member of the Rotary Club of San Marino, said many in the community went to Huntington Pharmacy.
Lim and his wife Theana Khou, 39, were always very professional and willing to go the extra mile for their customers.
“Most everyone was rather stunned when the news broke,” Veronda said. “I think many of us respected him highly…he and his wife.”
Veronda said he spoke with Lim about the charges, which Lim insisted were incorrect.
Lim, 47, of Pasadena, pleaded guilty last month to illegally structuring currency transactions in order to evade a federal reporting obligation for amounts over $10,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He was the final defendant to be sentenced in a larger health care scheme involving sixteen other people.
The operation involved “prescription harvesting,” in which someone steals patient identities to bill Medicare and Medi-Cal for illegitimate prescriptions for expensive drugs. In this case, the dollar figure was in the millions. After prescriptions were filled, the drugs were returned to the clinic, “patients” were given nominal payments of around $100, and the medications were diverted onto the black market, where they were sold to other pharmacies and re-billed to health care programs as though dispensed for the first time.
In 2009, San Marino police officers observed carloads of people that did not appear to be San Marino residents making prescription purchases at Huntington Pharmacy. Suspicious activity was monitored and authorities learned of the scheme. A San Marino woman had even witnessed a van pull up to the pharmacy with a bunch of people, which seemed out of place. She contacted the SMPD about the incident. A two-year investigation ensued. Known as operation “Psyched Out,” it was the first one in the nation involving an organized scheme to defraud federal health care programs through false claims for such anti-psychotic medications, according to the government.
Authorities shut down the scheme on Oct. 27, 2011. FBI, IRS and California Department of Justice agents raided the Pasadena home of Lim and Khou on that day in 2011. The two, along with 15 others, were arrested. The prescriptions were issued by ex-physician Kenneth Johnson, who pre-signed thousands of blank forms. He was sentenced in January to nine years in prison.
According to prosecutors, Medi-Cal and Medicare were billed for more than $18 million and the health programs paid out over $9 million, based on more than 14,000 fraudulent claims between September 2009 and October 2011. Prosecutors said Huntington Pharmacy was the primary offender, responsible for $7.3 million in actual losses to Medicare and Medi-Cal programs. It was one of several in the region that conspired with Glendale-based Manor Medical Imaging Clinic.
When Huntington Pharmacy, originally located Ridgeway and Huntington, closed its doors in December 2011, it not only put many people out of work, but also changed the level of care for San Marinans. Ken Veronda noted that he had called Lim at midnight on several occasions. “That’s the small town drug store approach we have lost by big drug stores.”
Customers had to take their business out of town, until Cal Oaks Pharmacy was established.
