PORTLAND, Maine — A South Portland dermatologist was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on five counts of tax evasion, 52 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances and one count of health care fraud.
Dr. Joel A. Sabean, 68, who resides in Falmouth, is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 29 in U.S. District Court.
Sabean’s attorneys, Thimi Mina and Jay McCloskey of Portland, said in a statement issued after the indictment was announced that their client “is not guilty of the offenses he is charged with.”
“He did not evade federal taxation,” the statement said. “Rather, he and his wife were the victims of an elaborate fraud perpetrated by a family member with a long and documented history of dishonesty.”
The indictment alleged that Sabean took more than $3 million in fraudulent medical deductions between 2008 and 2012. It also accused the physician of owing more than $893,000 in back income taxes.
The indictment also accused Sabean of knowingly and intentionally distributing and dispensing controlled substances outside the usual course of professional medical practice and without legitimate medical purposes more than 50 times between December 2010 and January 2014.
Sabean’s attorneys called the charge “completely without merit.”
“The fact that a Maine physician may have written prescriptions for a family member does not constitute criminal conduct,” Mina and McCloskey said.
The health care fraud charge is related to the prescriptions Sabean allegedly wrote for a relative in Boca Raton, Florida.
Sabean continues to practice in Maine, according to his attorneys.
If convicted, the doctor faces up to 10 years in prison on the health care fraud charges and up to five years on the other 57 counts. He could be fined up to $250,000 and be ordered to pay restitution and back taxes.