The Alternative Press

PATERSON, NJ – A chiropractor with offices in downtown Paterson pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges that he received as much as $75,000 in fraudulent health insurance claims, according to a press release issued by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.

Craig Klein, 46, of Ridgewood, admitted that he was responsible for the submission of bogus personnel injury claims to more than 30 insurance companies between December 2010 and February 2011, the press release said.

“Klein admitted that he helped give a false impression to the insurance companies that Hamilton Rehabilitation Center, located at 100 Hamilton Plaza, Paterson, New Jersey, was a legitimately constituted and operating chiropractic facility, when in fact he knew that non-chiropractors had an illegal disguised ownership interest in the facility and that the facility paid runners for illegal referrals,’’ said the press release issued by Prosecutor Camelia Valdes’ office.

Last week, authorities had arrested three other people in the insurance fraud case focused on Hamilton Rehabilitation Center.

Klein, whose chiropractor license is suspended, entered a guilty plea to an accusation charging him with theft by deception , a third-degree crime punishable by three to five years in state prison, the press release said.

The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office Insurance Fraud Unit had conducted a year-long investigation on the case, officials said. The probe is continuing, according to the prosecutor's office.