Crime & Safety

Marietta Man Pleads Guilty to Atlanta Healthcare Fraud

Prosecutors allege the defendant wanted to save money on allergen reagents by simply not testing blood samples and making up test results.

A Marietta man who operated an East Point allergy lab pleaded guilty to a charge of healthcare fraud in federal court for allegedly falsifying patients' allergy tests results to save money.

According to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Rahsaan Jackson Garth (a.k.a. Jackson Garth) opened the Polaris Allergy Labs in East Point in 2011. Doctors would send their patients to Garth for blood tests to determine whether or not they had food or environmental allergies.

Starting in September 2012, however, prosecutors allege that Garth began telling his employees to stop analyzing some of the blood they drew from the patients. Garth is accused of falsifying allergy tests for these patients, because he wanted to save money on the allergen reagents needed to test the blood.

In this scheme, which lasted until April of this year, Garth would then bill the patient's insurance even though his office had not actually done any work.

“Garth put his own greed above the health and safety of citizens,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in a statment. “This defendant seriously endangered the lives of children and adults in Atlanta when he faked their allergy test results and misled their doctors.”

Sentencing has not yet been determined for the 39-year-old.


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