Florida State Sen. Alberto Gutman pulled the plug on his political career and his ongoing Medicare fraud trial on Tuesday, abruptly pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy and agreeing to resign from the Legislature today and serve a two-year prison sentence.
A darling of Cuban exiles, Gutman, 40, brought his federal trial to a halt only five days into the government’s case. The jury heard only three witnesses.
Gutman, R-Miami, a legislator for 15 years, left the federal courthouse in downtown Miami without comment, but later offered an explanation to a Spanish-language television station:
“I knew others were stealing from Medicare and I failed to report it,” he said. Several attempts to reach Gutman at home Tuesday night were unsuccessful.
As part of the deal with prosecutors, Gutman, who faced 26 counts of Medicare fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud and witness tampering, must clear out his Senate office by the end of today and repay more then $98,000 he is accused of stealing by fraudulently billing Medicare.
He remains free until his Jan. 20 sentencing by U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold.
Prosecutors said Gutman and his wife, Marci, raked in $2 million as secret owners of two home health care agencies that billed Medicare for services but failed to provide them. Some patients were phony. Others were recruited from Gutman’s district voter rolls, which he provided to the agencies.
Gutman’s departure from the Senate will likely require Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to call a special election to fill the seat. Candidates already are lining up.
His resignation is a blow to Republican Cuban exiles. First elected to the Florida House in 1984, Gutman was wildly popular among older exiles who make up much of his voting district, which stretches from Little Havana to east Kendall. One of the longest-serving Hispanic members of the Miami-Dade delegation, he was re-elected in November even under indictment.
At least a dozen of his supporters were in the courtroom as the trial ended. The deal to abort the trial, which attorneys had promised would last a month, began with some soul searching by Gutman late last week, said his attorney, JosM-i Quinon. It ended with weekend negotiations between Quinon and Richard Gregorie, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. attorney in South Florida.
The deal was announced Tuesday morning.
Gutman made the decision while facing damaging witnesses and prosecution video and audiotapes of him setting up fraudulent deals, encouraging witnesses to lie to the FBI, and stuffing $7,500 into his pocket to pay for an attorney for one of his accused co-conspirators.
“With much thought and after watching the court proceedings, Al decided that it was the best thing for him and his family to put an end to this matter,” Quinon said. “It’s difficult to admit you’ve made a mistake, but to his credit, he will pick himself up from the floor and begin a new chapter in his life.”
Gutman’s plea broke a string of high-profile defeats suffered by Miami federal prosecutors in public corruption cases.
“This is absolutely a victory for the community,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis. “We think it sends a strong message that public corruption cannot and will not be tolerated This is a good day for the government, a good day for the community and a good day for the good guys.”
Gutman’s wife, Marci, who was charged with her husband and more than 20 other people, pleaded guilty in September. She is serving six months of home confinement. The Gutmans have a mentally handicapped child and Marci Gutman is her primary caretaker.
The case that ended Gutman’s career concerned his and his wife’s involvement with Mederi of Dade County, which was licensed to bill Medicare. The Gutmans were among 23 people arrested in what prosecutors called one of the largest cases of Medicare fraud in the country — a scheme that netted $15 million for its participants.
Prosecutors said a handful of subcontractors who supplied home nursing care for Mederi — including the Gutmans’ companies — defrauded Medicare by billing the agency for services never rendered. These subcontractors also recruited fake patients from Gutman’s voter lists, enticing some to participate by offering them clothes, food and housekeeping services.
The defense countered that key witnesses were trying to protect themselves by handing investigators a bigger fish: a public official. A handful of co-conspirators became federal informants, helping nail Gutman.
Early testimony indicated Gutman was an integral part of the scam, but prosecutors had not yet presented their most compelling evidence: audio and videotapes.
“Al Gutman will look bad on those tapes, no doubt about it,” Quinon had told the jury.
Gutman was elected to the state House in 1984 and the state Senate eight years later. When indicted, he was chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, but later relinquished the post.
It was the second time he was forced to resign a key committee post under a cloud of suspicion. In 1995, he gave up his position as chairman of the Senate’s Health Care Committee after weathering several conflict-of-interest controversies about his private dealings in the health-care industry.
Gutman is the latest public official in Miami-Dade to be tainted by charges of corruption.
The president of the recently created Alliance for Ethical Government, former Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan, said he was encouraged by the plea deal, especially because Gutman would leave office and serve time in prison.
“It lets people know that prosecutors are going to catch officials who cheat the public and that message is important,”‘ Kogan said. “No matter which way we stop corruption — by making people afraid of getting caught, or by appealing to their conscience — it must stop.”‘
In Miami, politicians were lining up to vie for Gutman’s seat. Among the potential Republican contenders for the seat are State Reps. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Weschester; Annie Betancourt, D-Miami; and Carlos Valdes, R-Miami; whose district overlaps Gutman’s.
Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Joe Geller said his party would have a good shot at taking the district by making public corruption a platform of the campaign.
Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
