Hialeah City Councilwoman Surrenders After Grand Jury Indictment for Alleged $19 Million Fraud

MIAMI – After defeating the incumbent, Angélica Pacheco's biography as Hialeah City Councilor since November 10, 2023, praised her “triumph over poverty” and her “unwavering belief that all things are possible with God at her side “.

It also describes Pacheco, 37, as a nurse who “specialized in mental health and substance abuse treatment” and “drug use prevention” and who “became an advocate for those in need, educating adolescents and their families on preventing drug use and ensuring drug treatment.” scholarships for the uninsured.

A grand jury indictment filed Wednesday describes Pacheco as the woman behind a $19.1 million fraud tied to Florida Life Recovery and Rehabilitation LLC, a Hialeah-based company that her husband Daniel Pacheco registered as active from March 20, 2017 to August 31. , 2022, and focused on outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers.

The indictment described Pacheco as “a registered nurse, employee and beneficial owner of Florida Life” who agreed to “defraud” private insurance companies from July 2017 to August 2020 to “illegally enrich himself” by “submitting and inducing” fraudulent claims, paying bribes and kickbacks, allowing a patient to “piggyback” on another patient’s insurance, and offering other “grants” in exchange for a patient referring other insured persons.

According to the indictment, Pacheco and his co-conspirators entered into agreements with laboratory owners and “reciprocal referral agreements with other affiliated drug treatment centers that involved the retraining of the same patients in the two ways through the different treatment centers, regardless of whether it was medically necessary.

The indictment also alleged that “to keep patients compliant and entice them to attend and remain at Florida Life,” Pacheco authorized the drugs “in quantities and combinations that sometimes deviated significantly from legitimate medical practice.” and which were intended to offer patients a substitute for medicines.” a narcotic or alcohol-induced effect.

Pacheco is also accused of authorizing services “so substandard that they failed to achieve a treatment goal” and billing for services for patients not enrolled in treatment at Florida Life. The case also involves false business loan applications related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pacheco surrendered Thursday. She faces eight counts: conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, five counts of health care fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Her husband, Daniel Pacheco, is not mentioned by name in the indictment. Before her arrest, she posted a video on social media claiming that Bovo had threatened her for confronting him.

“They’re trying to find a way to get rid of me,” she said in Spanish in the video.

Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo issued statements in English and Spanish on X Thursday to say the alleged crimes were “not related” to his work as an elected official.