A dermatologist from Falmouth pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he took more than $3 million in illegal medical deductions on his income taxes, illegally distributed prescription medications and fraudulently wrote prescriptions for a family member.
Dr. Joel A. Sabean, who has a medical practice in South Portland, has not been arrested in the case. He was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on five counts of tax evasion, 52 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances and one count of health care fraud.
Sabean, 68, of Falmouth arrived at U.S. District Court in Portland with his attorneys and was allowed to remain free after entering his pleas in a brief hearing before Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III.
Sabean, dressed in a blazer and tie, said little as he stood with one of his attorneys, Thimi Mina, answering mostly yes or no to questions posed by Rich.
Rich ordered Sabean to surrender his passport and have no contact with one of his children as a condition of his release on a personal recognizance bond. The judge would not say why he issued the no-contact order.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Mina said Sabean had no comment beyond a written statement issued on his behalf on Oct. 20, the day the 58-count indictment was made public.
In that statement, issued jointly by Mina and defense attorney Jay McCloskey, Sabean declared his innocence and denied committing federal tax evasion.
“Rather, he and his wife were the victims of an elaborate fraud perpetrated by a family member with a long and documented history of dishonesty,” the defense attorneys said in the written statement.
Mina and McCloskey added that the fact that Sabean wrote prescriptions for a family member is not a crime.
“The allegations that Dr. Sabean’s prescription of non-narcotic medications for members of his own family was outside the usual course of professional and medical practice or without a legitimate medical purpose is completely without merit,” Mina and McCloskey said.
The six-page indictment alleges that from 2009 to 2013, Sabean took $3,035,667 in fraudulent medical deductions in filing his taxes with the Internal Revenue Service.
It also accuses him of distributing sedatives, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medications without a legitimate purpose from Dec. 15, 2010, to Jan. 4, 2014.
The indictment also accuses him of writing or calling in prescriptions for a family member who filled them at a CVS store in Boca Raton, Florida.
If convicted, Sabean faces up to five years in prison on each of the tax fraud and drug distribution charges and up to 10 years in prison on the health care fraud charge. He also faces fines totaling as much as $13.75 million.
Sabean intends to continue operating his practice at 350 Cottage Road in South Portland while the case against him is pending, according to his attorneys.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce, who is prosecuting the case against Sabean, declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing.
Rich allowed the attorneys two weeks to report back on how long it will take to assemble evidence in the case and then set a schedule for motions.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.