City police have charged a woman in connection with fraudulent dental insurance claims totalling almost $100,000.
After its own investigation, the insurance company reported to police in June that it had received several discrepancies in claims for fillings and root canals, all submitted by the same dentist at All About Family Dental, located at 7520 Elbow Drive S.W.
Police began a criminal investigation.
Working with the insurance company, police were able to gather enough evidence to support criminal charges based on discrepancies and false billing affecting a total of 53 patients between June 2015 and June 2021, totalling $97,540 in fraudulent claims.
A police press release added that the patients were unaware of the false claims until after the investigation.
On Monday, the suspect turned herself in at a Calgary Police Service detachment and was arrested.
Alena Vladimiro Smadych, 53, has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000.
According to the dental practice’s website, Smadych has been a practicing dentist for 25 years, starting in her native Russia. She had been practising in Calgary since 2013.
Dr Randall Croutze, the CEO and registrar of the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta, said in a statement to Postmedia that complaints about dentists are “taken very seriously and investigated as permitted under the Health Professions Act.”
“When concerns about fraudulent billing by a dentist were brought to our attention by the Calgary Police Service, the matter had already been referred to a CDSA regulatory investigation,” Croutze said in the statement.
Once the CDSA’s director of complaints has opened an investigation under the Health Professions Act, information is gathered to determine whether the matter will be dismissed or referred to a hearing, Croutze added in the statement.
He said if the matter is referred to a hearing, a Hearing Tribunal panel consisting of two dentists and two public members will hear evidence and ultimately decide whether a dentist is “guilty or not guilty of unprofessional conduct”.
“In this matter, however, it has been determined that conditions need to be placed on this dentist’s licence to practise in order to protect the public during the investigation process and prior to any potential hearing,” the statement said.
Smadych is due to appear in court on 24 November.
