Medicaid fraud unit becomes fourth body to reject ‘Tooth Fairy’ case

Tooth and dental instruments on blue background. Dental treatment. Dentist tools mirror, hook, tweezers, syringe. Copy space for text

Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) has turned down a case into Jacksonville dentist Howard Fetner, citing a lack of new evidence.

That marks the fourth local or state body to reject the case, which alleges that Fetner — along with five employees of a dental management company Fetner was running — may have committed Medicaid billing fraud worth up to $1.3 million.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO) originally looked into the allegations, which garnered flashy headlines dubbing it the “Tooth Fairy case.” But the Miami-Dade SAO dropped the charges last year after failing to find sufficient evidence of fraud, with the accused dentists dubbing the probe a political witch hunt.

The Office of the Statewide Prosecutor — also falling under the Attorney General’s Office — declined to go forward with charges as well, pointing to “both legal and factual issues that would prevent OSP from moving forward in good faith.”

Recently, the Gainesville State Attorney also turned down the case, citing jurisdictional concerns.

And news broke last week that the MFCU is now declining to probe further, per a report from those who reviewed the case.

The report detailed a series of documents the MFCU received related to alleged wrongdoing by Fetner. But none of it turned up anything new, leading to the probe being closed.

“After reviewing the current referral and all documentation received as part of it, the documents received in this current case do not identify any new facts or evidence,” the closing report reads.

“Based on the information received and reviewed, I recommend closing due to lack of evidence for criminal prosecution. Discussions with AAG Marti also identified speedy trial issues involving the previously charged targets.”

The Florida Board of Dentistry (FBOD) is continuing to look into Fetner’s conduct, however, and has an upcoming probable cause hearing scheduled for July 12.

Allegations regarding the political nature of these investigations stem from the fact that Jose Mellado and his wife have sued Fetner in multimillion-dollar litigation. Mellado also happens to be Chair of the FBOD.