Neligh pharmacist sentenced to two months in prison

Danelle Charf, 49, of Neligh, was sentenced Monday, Nov. 20, in federal court in Omaha, for making a false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement in connection with health care services.

Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr made the announcement Monday afternoon in a press release.

Chief Judge Robert F. Rossiter sentenced Charf to two months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Charf’s release from prison, she will begin a three-year term of supervised release. Charf was also ordered to pay $573,337.53 in restitution to Medicare and Medicaid and was assessed a special assessment of $100.

According to court documents, Charf was released on conditions of supervision and allowed to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons. 

Charf previously owned Wanek Pharmacy in Neligh and Tilden Pharmacy in Tilden.

Agents began investigating in the fall of 2020 after receiving a tip. Several current and former employees were interviewed by investigators. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who worked at the Wanek and/or Tilden pharmacies reported that Charf was responsible for adjusting orders from suppliers so that brands were commonly unavailable.

The witnesses corroborated the complainant’s report that the pharmacies were billing for name brand while dispensing generic medications. Employees also reported that Charf was submitting claims for prescriptions where the pharmacy anticipated that the prescription would not be filled by the customer and had not, in fact, been filled.

Investigators then chose some beneficiaries at random to interview and located beneficiaries who had been prescribed a name brand medication but were dispensed a generic. Investigators were able to photograph the medications with name brand prescription labels placed on generic medications.

An invoice review was done, comparing all of the claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid by Wanek and Tilden pharmacies to how much of the same drugs were ordered by the pharmacies during the same time period. Even excluding claims to private insurance companies, the reconciliation showed that Wanek Pharmacy did not have adequate purchases to support claims for 1,032 of the 3,676 drugs reviewed, resulting in a loss of $369,837.38. Tilden Pharmacy did not have adequate purchases to support their claims for 612 of 1737 drugs reviewed, resulting in a loss of $203,500.15.

The case was investigated by the HHS Office of Inspector General and Nebraska Attorney General Office.