Two former U.S. Marines were sentenced in federal court to more than a year in prison for their role in a fraud scheme that bilked TRICARE, the military’s health care program, out of more than $65 million, federal officials said Friday.
Daniel Castro, from Oak Lawn, Ill., got a 21-month sentence, and Jeremy Syto, of Chula Vista, received 15 months. Both men had been based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. A nurse practitioner, Candace Craven, was sentenced as well, to three months home confinement.
At the center of the scheme are compound medications — drugs that are custom-made by pharmacists to meet a patient’s unique needs and are significantly more expensive than typical prescription drugs.
Castro and Syto recruited fellow Marines to receive the drugs in return for a monthly kickback of about $300, federal officials said. In turn, Castro and Syto were paid a commission — between 3 and 7 percent of the total TRICARE reimbursement paid to the pharmacy for the drugs sent to the Marines-turned-straw beneficiaries.