Lammons testified that El Hawa said he bought the flu shots from two men named Larry and Robert in September and agreed to purchase 5,000 flu vaccines for $50,000.
You can't make this stuff up!
Here's today's Chronicle article http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3432392
Iyad Abu El Hawa is a flight risk and apparently has lied to federal investigators about his scheme to defraud Medicare, said U.S. Magistrate Nancy Johnson in a hearing Tuesday.
Johnson said that since El Hawa has nine siblings living in Israel and holds Israeli and Jordanian passports, he might flee before his trial.
His attorney, Alphonsus O. Ezeoke, however, said El Hawa is innocent and wouldn't flee because he wants to clear his name.
He may appeal Johnson's decision.
Ezeoke said El Hawa agreed to give up his passports and wear an electronic monitoring device if Johnson granted him bail.
"I don't see how he is a flight risk," Ezeoke said.
. . .
Exxon Mobil said it had contacted the office of Baytown physician George Storm Walmsley to provide inoculations at the health fair. An employee at the office, Martha Denise Gonzales of Baytown, arranged for the flu shots at the fair, which occurred Oct. 20 and Oct. 21, FBI Special Agent Kevin Lammons testified Tuesday.
Gonzales later called El Hawa to say agents had questioned her about the flu vaccine and that other investigators then saw El Hawa toss some syringes filled with the solution into a Dumpster near the offices of Comfort & Caring Home Health, which El Hawa owns, in the 10100 block of Harwin, Lammons said.
Gonzales declined to comment.
"I never authorized or engaged in any agreement for the administering of any shots," said Walmsley, a family practitioner. "I was duped by my office manager."
Walmsley said he terminated Gonzales after learning of her dual employment with his office and Comfort & Caring Home Health, which performed the vaccinations.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Jeanne Miller said the company contracted with Walmsley's office for the inoculations and never agreed to have the job subcontracted to another party.