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DeSantis suspends Hialeah councilwoman after federal fraud indictment

Official headshot of Hialeah City Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco. (City of Hialeah)

HIALEAH, Fla. ā€“ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended a member of the Hialeah City Council following her indictment and arrest on eight federal fraud charges.

Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco, 37, is accused of orchestrating a $19.1 million healthcare fraud scheme.

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ā€œI reiterate my disappointment in Mrs. Pachecoā€™s actions and hope to put this dark chapter for the City behind us,ā€ Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo said in a statement Tuesday.

The charges are related to Florida Life Recovery and Rehabilitation LLC, a Hialeah-based company that her husband Daniel Pacheco registered as active from March 20, 2017, to Aug. 31, 2022, and focused on outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers.

The indictment described Pacheco as ā€œa registered nurse, employee, and beneficial owner of Florida Lifeā€ who agreed to ā€œdefraudā€ private insurance companies from July 2017 to August 2020 to ā€œunlawfully enrichā€ herself by ā€œsubmitting and causingā€ fraudulent claims, paying kickbacks and bribes, allowing a patient to ā€œpiggybackā€ on another patientā€™s insurance, and offering other ā€œscholarshipsā€ in exchange for a patient referring other individuals with insurance.

According to the indictment, Pacheco and her co-conspirators entered into agreements with owners of laboratories and into ā€œreciprocal referral agreements with other affiliated substance abuse treatment centers that involved recycling the same patients back and forth through the different treatment centers, regardless of whether doing so was medically necessary.ā€

Read the indictment:

The indictment also alleged that ā€œto keep patients docile and incentivize them to attend and remain at Florida Life,ā€ Pacheco allowed medications ā€œin quantities and combinations that at times grossly diverged from legitimate medical practice, and which were intended to offer patients a substitute for a narcotic or alcohol-induced high.ā€

Pacheco also stands accused of allowing services ā€œso substandard that they failed to serve a treatment purpose,ā€ and of billing for services for patients not enrolled in treatment at Florida Life. The federal case against her also involves alleged false business loan applications related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Miami Herald reported Pacheco surrendered and appeared before Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis on Thursday. Records show she is facing eight charges: Conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, five counts of healthcare fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. Her husband, Daniel Pacheco, was not mentioned by name in the indictment.

Before the arrest, she published ā€œThe Tireless Fight In Search of Justice Has Consequences,ā€ a video in Spanish on YouTube saying Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo had threatened her and blamed ā€œthe Hialeah administrationā€ for anything that happened to her. The video included clips of council meetings showing the animosity between them.

ā€œThey are trying to find a way to get rid of me,ā€ she said in Spanish in the video.

Bovo released statements in English and Spanish on Thursday on X to say that the alleged crimes were ā€œnot related nor linkedā€ to ā€œher capacity as an elected official.ā€


About the Authors
Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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