Appears To Be Small Smiles Employees In Phoenix Having a Bit of Fun

Here are the videos that were sent to me.

After posting the links to these videos from youtube user je3579 in a previous post I sent them on to Mr. Todd Cruse, of FORBA (Nashville, TN and Pueblo, CO) who operates the Small Smiles clinics, for review. I guess they were from the Small Smiles clinic in Phoenix since they disappeared almost immediately, I wasn't sure at first but since they were removed from the user account within an hour of passing them along my guess is they were in fact Small Smiles employees have a bit of fun. Until Mr. Cruse had them removed, there were several more videos, some with a dancing Santa and more.

I'm just guessing but I bet there are some job openings this afternoon in case anyone is interested in joining such a fine organization.

I sure wish I had the video of Jamie eating the banana from between the legs of the guy. The stars of the show were said to be Jamie-the dental hygienist Alex-the dental assistant and Dr. Karen Chu the lead dentist of Phoenix, AZ Small Smiles.

Don't you just love stupid people who would do this at work and post it on the Internet. Makes you wonder if FORBA checks to see if people have brains before they are hired. Anyway, as you could clearly see the dentist that briefly appears in one of the films could care less about what his employees are doing. I wonder who is behind the camera.

Way to go Jamie!

Your tax dollars at work, folks. Yep, these clinics are a glimpse into socialized medicine. See, these clinics operate solely on your tax dollars through SCHIP programs in various states. They treat low income (or as FORBA calls them, "underserved") children and receive medicaid dollars from your state.









Here is one of the comments that was posted anonymously:

I know of all these employees personally and I can tell you that Dr. Karen Chu the owner and Lead Dentist of the Phoenix Small Smiles had dared the dental hygienist Jaime Evans and the dental assistant Alex Corral to post this video on You Tube. The Pediatric dentist Dr. Quentin Shaw also thought these videos were funny and is in the Chicken fight video. This all happened when patients were in the office being treated.

As was said to me and I shall repeat it: "People really need to be tested before they are hired by FORBA Small Smiles"!!



6/14

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Anyone At FORBA Small Smiles Willing To Comment On These?

I'm told these are the people who are treating the children in Phoenix, AZ. I sure hope this is not the case.

If you click on these videos now, they are gone! I sent them to Todd Cruse this morning and asked about them. I guess that proves they were from the Small Smiles clinic doesn't it, cause within an hour every one of them were gone.

All were sent to me but I don't have a copy of the worst one where the dental assistant is eating a banana from between the male's legs. It was titled Jaime really likes Bananas (They made me do it Dr. Karen).

Stars are Jamie-the dental hygienist Alex-the dental assistant and Dr. Karen Chu the lead dentist of Phoenix, AZ Small Smiles.

Things Too Quiet On FORBA Small Smiles Investigation

Just returned from a trip to New York City, I'm not going to say weather it was totally business or not but I can say Small Smiles and FORBA's name came up at a few gatherings.

Most of us who have known that medicaid Inspector Generals in several states have been investigating the fraud and child abuse at FORBA's Small Smiles Clinics are starting to wonder if they are just going to let this pass by without prosecution. It's sure starting to look like it. We are hoping that our government protects us better than that, but one just never knows.

To any of the local Investigative reporters out there, maybe it's time for a follow up story. We have to stay on this or we all know what will happen, NOTHING!

I'm not exactly sure but I think there is an attorney out there who would love to take this on. See the term 'qui tam'.

May 2009 Update

Sorry I've not posted in a while. I'm sure some have missed me while others, well, not so much. I've just been busy with life and awaiting on some news out of New York on FORBA.

For anyone wondering about the lawsuit FORBA filed, well they ended up dropping it all! They asked the judge to dismiss all their complaints and the judge signed the order.

Basically, I didn't cave, I stared them in the face without fear until they backed off. I believe you can find all the legal stuff online if you want to see for yourself. Heck there might be a blog about it one day.

I guess they racked up a $60, 000 dollar legal bill with their attorney's since that was the last figure I heard and laughed hysterically at. I suggested to their attorney to get that in cash from their client ASAP.

These people are kind of like the school yard bully. Don't cower down to them.

Don't think I'm not still on the case, because I still am. You know, the quiet before the storm as they say.

Todd Cruse Involved In Shady Business While In Sundquist Administration

Todd Cruse is married to Lesa Hensley.  Lesa is daughter of lobbyist Tom Hensley "The Golden Goose" in Tennessee politics.  

NewsChannel 5 Investigates: Friends in High Places
E-Mail May Provide Valuable Clues in Contracts Investigation
(Story created: 10/31/03)

First, there were raids. More recently, there's been a parade of witnesses before a federal grand jury investigating state contracts. Now, thousands of e-mails could provide important clues about how the Sundquist administration handled those contracts.

Millions of people communicate every day by e-mail.

So when investigators began investigating contracts handed out by the administration of former Gov. Don Sundquist, they quickly issued a federal grand jury subpoena for thousands of e-mail messages. Included was a demand for messages to and from Sundquist and other top officials.

The probe was prompted by our Friends in High Places investigation

"People put things in e-mails never expecting that they are going to have to explain them," says retired FBI agent Ben Purser.

A sampling of the e-mails provided to the grand jury -- and obtained by NewsChannel 5 -- deal with a request for proposals for computer services. RFPs, as they are called, are supposed to be judged by an impartial selection panel.

"What you are holding in your hands could very well be evidence," Purser tells NewsChannel 5's chief investigative reporter Phil Williams.

For example, there's an August 2002 e-mail from Sundquist's chief administrative officer Todd Cruse.

"When do you anticipate putting together the selection panel," Cruse asks the state's head of information resources. "I have an interest in who we choose."

Cruse would later become a lobbyist for SCB Computer Technology, one of the state's big computer contractors and a bidder for the job.

"Perhaps, and I emphasize perhaps, there could be some influence there," Purser observes.

Cruse, however, tells NewsChannel 5 he was just expressing a naive curiosity about how the process worked.

But that's not how it was taken at the time.

"Honoring his request is simply out of the question," wrote Richard Rognehaugh, then the state's new head of information resources, to Finance Commissioner Warren Neel.

Neel responded, "My guide is and remains.. keep the process clean and above reproach.

That same process was used to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. Investigators will want to know if there were efforts to stack other selection panels -- and if there were other department heads who were more willing to go along with those efforts.

Cruse's e-mails also hint at pressure from powerful Senate chairman Jerry Cooper relating to a homeland security project.

"I would like to be able to tell Senator Cooper when he calls, again, that I am getting a response out to her by the end of the day," the Sundquist administration official wrote.

The "her" was Cooper's wife, who was lobbyist for a company that wanted in on talks about the contract.

Purser says, "The e-mails that you've shown me would demonstrate the amount of political influence that is being used in a process that is supposed to be void of political influence."

Those e-mails are just a tiny fraction of what the state's computer experts are recovering from computer backups. The grand jury subpoena demands messages from the highest levels of the Sundquist administration.

The subpoena for e-mail records was issued last December. But the state's computer experts say restoring backups has been such a massive chore that they still aren't finished with the job.

"Some of the folks did not appear to be habitual e-mail senders or receivers," Rognehaugh tells Phil Williams.

He says how much evidence that's available for the federal grand jury will depend upon the e-mail habits of the Sundquist administration officials now under scrutiny.

"The federal grand jury in any public corruption investigation is following a paper trail," Purser adds.

In this case, it's not paper -- but a trail of bits and bytes that some probably never realized they were leaving.

Smile Starters Complaint #101

I have read the article on the Smile Starters investigation. I wanted to share a story about my visit with the Winston-Salem, NC Smile Starters in 2001. I went in to have my teeth cleaned and see about having my wisdom teeth cut out. When I went in the I never had a problem with my teeth, not a spot on them. They took an x-ray and told me I had 8 cavities in all my mollars. When I asked about why my teeth didn't hurt or have any spots on them, they told my I had a rare tooth decay disorder that caused my teeth to rotten from the inside out. I was 17 so my mom didn't go with me and I didn't know I could tell them no they can't prefrom the fillings. So i let them start drilling my teeth, they gave my 10 shots in my mouth and I felt EVERYTHING!!! When I told the dentist this she told me well we have already given you too much medicine you are just gonna have to be a big girl. Then I was flinching and moving while she was drilling and her exact words to me were : "You better sit still or I'm going to cut your mouth all up. I can't stop drilling fast enough to keep from cutting you." They couldn't cut my wisdom teeth out that day so hey scheduled me for 2 days later. I went in that day and they broke my jaw removing my teeth! They claim that I had roots that are 1.5 cm longer than normal and they curved backwards and attached themselve to my jaw bone. On top of that they give my 800mg IBuprofen to manage my pain.This was the worst experience of my life. Since then I have had nothing but problems out of my back teeth. I was someone that use to pride myself on my teeth. Now I have these large black fillings in my mouth that I hate. I hope these so called dentist are not allowed to put their hands on anymore children.!!!

Thanks

Heather K

Who Owns Pueblo, Colorado

Emails question who owns Pueblo, Colorado.

________________________________________________

I had emailed you a few weeks back about the DeRoses and life here in Pueblo, Colorado. When driving to work each day I can't help but notice a very large and fancy building being constructed in a new business park in Pueblo. I was wondering what type of business it might be. Yesterday I received a flier in the mail for "Park West Dental". Owners: Dr. John Millea and Dr. Juliann Padula Millea. "General Dentistry for Youth". "Most insurances accepted including MEDICAID...." This new office is about a quarter mile away from the new YMCA in Pueblo which is being heavily funded by donations from the DeRoses.

A few observations...

1. Again, I guess I'm surprised how much money there is to be made practicing pediatric dentistry.. Am also amazed that with such an expensive and elaborate building that one would be purposely trying to attract Medicaid patients. Most physicians in town cringe at the thought of a Medicaid based practice as you would go broke in a short amount of time.

2. Is reimbursement for Medicaid dental services still too high? I don't think the original intent of the program was for dentists to get rich off it.

3. How much do you want to bet the financing for this pair of young dentists (each looks to be in their early thirties) came from the DeRoses?.. I have a hard time believing that they are financing the building themselves. There are too many coincidences.

Of course, none of this is illegal. It just raises a question in my mind about the potential for ongoing fraud given the associations noted---i.e. Padula-DeRose-child's dentistry-close proximity to the "DeRose" YMCA building, etc...

_____________________________________________

So I sent out an email asking about this and here is what I was told:

Yes the dental clinic is owned by Dr. padula which is Dr. Eddie DeRose's brother in law so I am guessing it is Dr. Padula daughter and son in law. Dr. John Millea use to work at....guess what....DeRose Dentistry or now known as Small Smiles of Pueblo on Liberty lane. The YMCA is being funded and built by Dr. Eddie DeRose. The clan down there involves Dr. Eddie DeRose, Dr. Adolph Padula(bro-inlaw), Dr. John Parrish(bro-inlaw). Both Padula and Parrish were part owners of Small Smiles before FORBA bought them out and I am pretty sure the non compete clause included them so hence....they use their kids names. Probably gonna start up new clinics under their names to run FORBA out of town.

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DeRose Involved In Health Club?

I found this post the other day on a website and was wondering if anyone has anymore information on this?

Dan DeRose is Mike DeRose's brother, and he was the subject of Medicare fraud charge in the mid-90s when he owned a local health club. The results of the lawsuit against him were never made public.

Pay for Preformance

As ridiculous as this concept is, I hope FORBA execs are first inline.