Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia unsealed an indictment Friday accusing 45-year-old Eric C. Opitz of bilking Medicare out of more than $535,000 by claiming he was a dwarf who needed human growth hormone.
In reality, according to the indictment, Opitz was 450 pounds and 6 feet, 3 inches.
That's a nearly 1½ feet taller than what the support group Little People of America says is the cut-off for dwarfism.
But for nearly a year, a pharmacy filled the physical trainer and body building consultant's prescriptions for as much as 8 milligrams of growth hormone per day -- 40 times the FDA's recommended maximum dose, according to prosecutors.
Medicare footed the bill through a prescription drug benefit program, according to prosecutors. Opitz had claimed his only source of income was $950 a month in Social Security benefits, according to the indictment.
So what did the big guy do with all that growth hormone -- which some athletes and bodybuilders use to increase muscle mass?
He sold, it, prosecutors say, at something like $450 for each kit. He found his customers through a brazen ad on Craigslist, according to the indictment.
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