W.Va. doctor pleads guilty to Tax Evasion & Healthcare Fraud - WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville

A 61-year-old Parkersburg, West Virginia, doctor entered pleas of guilty to Health Care Fraud and Tax Evasion in United States District Court in Wheeling before Chief Judge John Preston Bailey Wednesday.

 U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced that Barton Joeseph Adams, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine who owned and operated the Interventional Pain Management medical office in Vienna, West Virginia, admitted to willfully attempting to evade taxes in the amount of $528,579.  

According to a news release Adams admitted to making a fraudulent claim for health care proceeds in the amount of $34,314.86.  As part of his plea agreement, Adams agreed to the forfeiture of $3,724,721 and to file tax returns or amended tax returns for calendar years 2004 through 2009 and further to cooperate with representatives of the Internal Revenue Service to reconstruct all taxes due and owing by him.

 Adams is in custody pending sentencing and faces up to 15 years imprisonment and a $350,000 fine in addition to the forfeiture.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled by Judge Bailey as soon as a pre-sentence investigation report is completed by the United States Probation Office.

Ihlenfeld said Adams and his wife schemed to rob American taxpayers.

"Dr. Adams stole nearly four million dollars from American taxpayers and then schemed with his wife to hide the money in bank accounts around the world," said Ihlenfeld. "He used the money that he stole to live a luxurious lifestyle, taking fancy trips and staying in high- end hotels, and he had plans to retire overseas until the whole scheme collapsed."

Adams' wife, Joesphine Adams, went to trial last year and was convicted by a jury of assisting her husband in the laundering of nearly $4 million dollars of health care fraud proceeds.

According to Ihlenfeld, the evidence presented showed that the fraud proceeds were first deposited into accounts in West Virginia and then were moved into accounts around the United States before being placed into foreign bank accounts in Canada, China, and the Philippines.

Josephine Adams has not been sentenced and faces up to 20 years in prison on each of her convictions for obstructing an official investigation, up to 10 years for each conviction of obstructing a judicial proceeding, and up to 5 years for each of the conspiracy convictions. She also faces a fine of $250,000 on each conviction.