A Belizean fugitive wanted by the US has been spotted in Belize. Physician, Errol Elrington, a sibling of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, is wanted in the United States on a slew of criminal offenses related to his profession as a medical practitioner. His name appears in the list of the U.S. Office of the Inspector General’s most wanted fugitives for medical fraud. It is alleged that Elrington perpetrated Medicaid fraud, healthcare fraud, as well as racketeering when he purportedly employed an unlicensed physician to treat patients at Elrington Medical Center in Redford, Michigan.
Investigators believe that Elrington falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid almost half a million U.S. dollars for services that were never performed. Moreover, his unlicensed employee is also accused of engaging in criminal sexual misconduct. He is being held on remand pending a trial. Despite being the owner of the business, Elrington is said to have spent most of his time under the employ of another medical facility as its chief medical officer. A warrant for his arrest was subsequently issued on October seventh, 2013. Less than twenty-four hours after being interviewed by federal authorities, Elrington reportedly absconded to Belize where he remains on the lam.
Source: Channel 5
Dr. Errol Elrington, he's well known in Belize as the US-based younger brother of Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington and attorney Hubert Elrington. But tonight, news has emerged that he's a wanted fugitive in the United States. The website of the office of the US Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services has him listed on its "fugitive profiles" page.
It details that in October of 2013, an arrest warrant was issued for Elrington for racketeering, Medicaid fraud and health care fraud. The website says Elrington falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid more than four hundred thousand dollars for services that he never performed, and he employed an unlicensed physician who engaged in criminal sexual misconduct.
The allegation is that Elrington was the owner of a private medical center known as Elrington Medical Center in Michigan where he employed an unlicensed doctor then billed Medicare and Medicaid as if he performed the services. That unlicensed physician is being held, but according to the website, Elrington fled the United States for Belize 24 hours after he was questioned by Federal and State agents. He remains a fugitive at large, the website states.
We note that the offenses he's accused of are Federal, which are very serious because they allow for extended criminal penalties. Elrington is still reported to be in Belize where his brother is foreign minister. Notable, because in all cases, requests for extradition of wanted US fugitives come through that Ministry.
And while he's considered a fugitive in the the U.S.A., in Belize, Errol Elrington very well connected at the highest levels of the ruling United Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, that in 2009 awarded him with the Order of Distinction in 2009. That is the third highest official honour that can be given by the Government of Belize - for recognition of his supposed contributions to the Belizean Community in Detroit. Apart from having his brother as the current Belize Foreign Minister and Attorney General, Errol has another brother, Hubert, an attorney at law, who is a former cabinet minister in a past UDP government.
Source: TV7
Hubert Elrington Says brother Errol Has Nothing To Worry About
Today, attorney Hubert Elrington confirmed what we reported on Monday night that his brother, Errol Elrington, is in Belize and has been here since he fled the US after being interviewed by federal and state agents. An arrest warrant was issued for him in October, 2013, so he is legitimately a fugitive from justice? Errol is wanted on charges of racketeering and Medicaid fraud after he allegedly billed Medicare and Medicaid more than four hundred thousand dollars U.S. for services he did not perform. Errol is also believed to have hired an unlicensed physician who then engaged in criminal sexual misconduct. But while those are serious charges in the US, they don’t appear to be that big a deal here in Belize, especially if your brother happens to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney-General, Wilfred Elrington. It is not known if there is an extradition request from the U.S., but if there would be one, it would be for Wilfred to deal with. But today, Hubert told News Five that it’s no secret…and his brother isn’t really guilty of anything but bad judgment.
Hubert Elrington, Brother of Errol Elrington
“He is here in Belize. My brother, as you know, was a director of medical services in his substantive post up there at a hospital, and he also owned his own clinic, medical facility. And as far as I understand he employed a doctor that represented to him that he had all his licenses and things, but after a while it turned out that this doctor did not have some of the licenses that were needed…and you know in the United States they are very, very strict. They want you to check…and if you don’t check…so it’s really a situation where an employee of his, a doctor, failed to get his proper licenses and was operating in my brother’s clinic. And that’s the situation. Now I understand that my brother has legal experts working for him in the States and they are dealing with the matter up there.”
Reporter
“Sir I’m not too familiar with the legalities, but there are also charges mentioned in the report of racketeering..Medicaid fraud…is that above and beyond the situation with the other physician that was employed?”
Hubert Elrington
“Well the reality is that if you treat any patient in your clinic and you send any bill to the government and it turns out that one of your doctors was not licensed then you don’t have a right to claim. Everything stems from the rogue doctor that failed to disclose to him that he had not looked after his license. As you know he is probably the brightest of the Elringtons…he was the one who was able to do the physics and the mathematics and things like that without difficulty. So to me it is kind of regrettable that he was not paying the kind of attention he should have been paying but it sometimes happens in life and we live in a democracy. But its not that he himself did anything wrong.”
Hubert said that in his opinion, any situation which would result in a request for Errol’s extradition would never arise. - Source: TV5
U.S. Office Of The Inspector General Most Wanted Fugitives - Errol Elrington