NJ chiropractor gets prison term for medical fraud ring role

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A chiropractor involved in a medical fraud ring that bilked nearly $4 million overall from several insurers is now headed to prison.

John Langeraap received a three-year sentence Friday. The 39-year-old Sparta man had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Langeraap was a front man for a chiropractic practice operated by Phillip Potacco, another chiropractor whose license had been revoked for misconduct in 2002.

State authorities say Potacco used a medical consulting group to recruit accident victims and people who staged car crashes so he could submit bogus insurance claims.

Langeraap let Potacco open and use a bank account in his name. He also let him create medical records, health care claim forms and reports for use in arbitration claims -- all in Langeraap's name and under Langeraap's license --without Potacco ever seeing patients.