Travis Gober, a Hanford man, has pleaded guilty to submitting fraudulent claims totaling over $1 million for sleep studies to Medicare. Gober, who owned the VIP Sleep Center, a sleep disorder clinic operating in Fresno and Visalia, submitted thousands of claims between October 2019 and September 2021 for sleep studies that were never conducted on patients. The claims also falsely indicated that the patients had been referred by physicians with whom Gober had previously worked. This was done to meet Medicare’s requirement of a physician referral for sleep studies.
According to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert, Gober committed this fraud partly to address financial difficulties caused by his brother, Jeremy Gober, without his knowledge or consent. Jeremy Gober himself was charged in December 2022 with health care fraud and identity theft amounting to $8 million related to other sleep clinics in the Central Valley.
Travis Gober is scheduled to be sentenced by Jennifer L. Thurston on January 16, 2024. If convicted, he faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for health care fraud and an additional mandatory two years for identity theft.
Author: Ryan Scott
Just a guy