To Get a Brain in to Get a Brain In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
FREE a newspaper for the rest of us www.lansingcitypulse.com August 28-September 3, 2013 WhereWhere toto getget aa brainbrain inin LansingLansing see page 10 Feds indict Lansing doctor, slumlord husband big time — see page 5 2 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • August 28, 2013 O l d T g o in wn,Lans WE ARE: The highest concentration of creative services in the state of Unique, eccentric and a passionate group of people Where you want to be seen Family. Your home away from home Opportunity. Our businesses, creative rms and organizations offer numerous internships annually. Your volunteer hub to engage with your community, impact Lansing and make change happen. Home to some of the largest festivals in mid- Michigan Come visit us this fall! SAVE THE DATE: BluesFest: September 21-22 For a complete list of events and how to get involved visit iloveoldtown.org Old Town Oktoberfest: October 4-5 and follow us @OldTownLansing City Pulse • August 28, 2013 www.lansingcitypulse.com 3 4 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • August 28, 2013 LANSING AREA PUBLIC VOL. 13 PURCHASING GROUP Feedback ISSUE 2 Hey HopCat, 12th ANNUAL LANSING I want you to know I’m rooting for you (517) 371-5600 • Fax: (517) 999-6061 • 1905 E. Michigan Ave. • Lansing, MI 48912 • www.lansingcitypulse.com BUSINESS NETWORKING EVENT to succeed. We could use another great craft ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: (517) 999-6705 beer bar in town. And you’re doing a lot of Meet the buyers from public entities PAGE CLASSIFIED AD INQUIRIES: (517) 999-5066 things right. or email [email protected] in the greater Lansing region But look — Playboy on the walls in the 6 men’s room? That’s not cool. Give us Mad EDITOR AND PUBLISHER • Berl Schwartz [email protected] • (517) 999-5061 Featuring Keynote Speaker: magazine covers. Give us old comic books. MANAGING/NEWS EDITOR • Andy Balaskovitz DENISE PEEK Don’t make us guys think about objectifica- Walt Sorg recalls an interview with Clarence Jones, who wrote [email protected] • (517) 999-5064 tion and the male gaze while we’re trying to the opening of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR • Allan I. Ross TUESDAY, OCT. 08, 2013 take a leak. Most of your clientele is college [email protected] • (517) 999-5068 students and grad students. We care about PAGE PRODUCTION MANAGER • Rachel Harper 8:00 AM TO 1:00 PM this stuff. [email protected] • (517) 999-5066 CALENDAR EDITOR • Jonathan Griffith You’re making classy moves with the rest 7 [email protected] • (517) 999-5069 LANSING COMMUNITY of your decor. And the 100-tap takeover is STAFF WRITERS COLLEGE – WEST CAMPUS already a legend. Don’t let a bad choice on Lawrence Cosentino [email protected] • (517) 999-5063 5708 CORNERSTONE DR. , the men’s room cloud your grand opening — Concrete slabs from Lansing's past find a or keep proudly feminist men like me from home in the Genesee neighborhood MARKETING/PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR/ SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT • Rich Tupica LANSING MI, 48917 frequenting your establishment. [email protected] • (517) 999-6710 PAGE ADVERTISING MANAGER • Shelly Olson Phone: Stephanie Robinson, — Matt Penniman [email protected] • (517) 999-6705 City of Lansing Purchasing Lansing 22 ADVERTISING Denis Prisk 517.483.4128 Have something to say about a local issue [email protected] • (517) 999-6704 or email or an item that appeared in our pages? Organic: A look into what it means to be a local meat producer Contributors: Justin Bilicki, Bill Castanier, stephanie.robinson@lansing mi.gov Mary C. Cusack, Amanda Harrell-Seyburn, Tom 1.) Write a letter to the editor. Helma, Sam Inglot, Terry Link, Kyle Melinn, Shawn • E-mail: [email protected] Parker, Dennis Preston, Dylan Sowle, Paul Register At LCC • Snail mail: City Pulse, 1905 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48912 • Fax: (517) 371-5800 COVER Wozniak, Ute Von Der Heyden, Judy Winter [email protected] 2.) Write a guest column: Delivery drivers: Richard Bridenbaker, Dave Contact Berl Schwartz for more information: ART Fisher, Karen Navarra, Noelle Navarra, Brent *Cost: $50 per Person [email protected] Robison, Steve Stevens or (517) 999-5061 Interns: Jordan Bradley, Hannah Scott, Jordyn (Continental Breakfast and (Please include your name, address and telephone number so we can reach you. Keep letters to 250 words or fewer. City Pulse reserves the SCARECROW by CRAIG HORKY Timpson, Darby Vermeulen Lunch Provided) right to edit letters and columns.) Editor & Publisher Berl CITY PULSE ON THE AIR Schwartz Developer Gene Townsend 7 p.m. Wednesdays Clarence Jones, speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr. State Rep. Theresa Abed, 71st House District THIS WEEK: Higher Education State Rep. Tom Cochran, 67th House District THIS WEEK Hosted by Newsmakers Berl Schwartz DON LEDUC, COOLEY LAW SCHOOL PRESIDENT DONALD HELLER, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION DEAN Watch past episodes at vimeo.com/channels/citypulse City Pulse • August 28, 2013 www.lansingcitypulse.com 5 PULSE NEWS & OPINION at East Michigan Family Care, according for receiving controlled substances, the to the indictment by the Internal Revenue indictment says. In exchange for setting Indicted Service’s Detroit Criminal Investigation up the physical therapist to perform test- Unit. On top of the six counts he faces ing on patients, the therapist “shared the Lansing doctor Shannon Wiggins with Wiggins, which also include fil- proceeds of the claims … with Wiggins and C and husband indicted on several ing false tax returns, Abduljaber is also Abduljaber through referral payments and OF THE WEEK federal charges, including con- alleged to have committed food stamp inflated, non-market rent payments” of, in spiracy to commit health care fraud and giving a false statement to fed- at least one agreement, $1,500 a month, fraud and improperly distributing eral authorities about it. according to the indictment. The penalty controlled substances Abduljaber, who was a subject in a for such a charge is fines and not more than 2007 City Pulse cover story about slum- 10 years in prison. Mohamad Abduljaber allegedly had lords, is listed as owning 35 properties The second count, conspiracy to pay a nice little system going for a few years. in Lansing. The Lansing City Attorney’s and receive health-care kickbacks, spans Abduljaber, a city-identified “problematic Office identified Abduljaber as a “prob- January 2004 to April 2011. It alleges the slumlord” who owns nearly 40 properties lematic slumlord” in 2007. couple would receive payments from the in Lansing, would send his tenants to his The couple faces potential forfeitures physical therapist in exchange for patient wife, physician Shannon Wiggins, for hard of $1.4 million and the properties on referrals, resulting in claims submitted to prescription drugs like OxyContin and Grand River and Michigan, according to Medicare and Medicaid. Over six specific methadone. They’d see her monthly and the indictment. dates in that period, the couple allegedly be billed each time for an office visit, even Wiggins, an osteopathic physician, has received $5,300 in exchange for patient though they didn’t need the medication. been on probation since November 2011 for referrals. The felony carries a fine of not So claims a federal grand jury in an her role in overprescribing pharmaceuticals more than $25,000 or not more than five indictment issued Thursday that charges going back to February 2006. It involved years in prison. the couple with conspiracy to commit eight instances of overprescribing pain As for the third count, conspiracy to health care fraud and receiving kick- medication to patients between February distribute controlled substances outside Property: Arch at Durant Park, 719 N. backs for unnecessary diagnostic treat- 2006 and May 2010. One involved an acci- the usual course of professional practice, Washington Ave., Lansing ments paid for by federal programs like dental overdose. She pleaded no contest. Abduljaber allegedly solicited patients to Owner: City of Lansing Medicaid and Medicare. After an investigation by the state Wiggins’ practice to receive methadone, As if to complete the circle, those ten- Attorney General’s Office, the state Board oxycodone and hydrocodone monthly — ants would turn around and sell the pre- of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery also even though it served “no legitimate medi- scription pills to pay rent to Abduljaber, issued a $5,000 fine but let her keep her cal purpose” — and get billed for an office Lansing has beautiful parks. No two are according to anonymous sources. license. visit. When patients were discharged for alike in the envious range of civic greens, Wiggins, who owns East Michigan The federal investigation against not needing the substances by other prac- from the pastoral Hawk Island to the artic- Family Care at 2310 E. Michigan Ave. and Wiggins goes back at least until January titioners at the practice, Abduljaber would ulated town-square style of Reutter Park. 4415 N. Grand River Ave. in Lansing, is 2012, when City Pulse reported that the allegedly authorize the patients to come Undulating pathways, tree canopies, acres also charged with nine counts of improp- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration back and be referred to Wiggins. He also of civic space and monuments are found erly distributing oxycodone and metha- had executed a federal search warrant on allegedly removed drug-testing kits from throughout. done — both schedule II substances — the East Side practice and seized seven the office to make it difficult for other prac- Passing under the Durant Park Arch just to a patient over a four-month period guns from the couple’s Jolly Road home titioners to determine whether patients makes you feel grand. It’s simple but effec- in 2008-‘09. Three of those allege she in Okemos.