SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A former Indiana surgeon captured in Italy after five years on the run has been sentenced to seven years in prison for health care fraud.
A federal judge who sentenced Mark Weinberger on Friday said he imposed a relatively lengthy sentence because Weinberger fled and because of the trouble he caused his former patients and employees.
Weinberger pleaded guilty in July to 22 counts of health care fraud. He once ran a nose and sinus clinic in Merrillville, where prosecutors say he billed insurers and patients for procedures he didn't perform.
He vanished during a 2004 European vacation and was captured in December 2009 on an Italian mountainside, where authorities say he had been living in a tent.
Weinberger apologized for his actions during Friday's hearing.
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