Day: November 8, 2010

Half Guilty, Half Pregnant Harlingen Insurance Agent To Be Sentenced

                 

Half Guilty, Half Pregnant Arnulfo C. Olivarez, a Harlingen, Texas based insurance agent, is to be sentenced at 9:00 am, November 29 in McAllen, Texas, Judge Ricardo Hinojosa presiding. Prior sentencing dates have been postponed more than six times, so there is no guarantee that this next scheduled sentencing date will not be postponed as well.

In talking with various sources in the know, Molly Mulebriar has learned that Olivarez’s sentencing has been continuously postponed due to an on-going FBI investigation. One Dallas based attorney in the know, told Mulebriar that the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service are following up on leads provided by Olivarez and others, with additional leads in play all weaved through a complicated web.

The FBI announced that further indictments are expected (See FBI News Release – type in “Olivarez” in search box on this blog for additional postings on this matter).

Olivarez plead half guilty to paying bribes to pubic officials in return for lucrative insurance contracts.

At his appearance to plead before Judge Hinojosa, he stated something to the effect “Your Honor, Im not guilty of all the charges, which therefore makes me only half guilty!”  Thus the name “Half Guilty, Half Pregnant Olivarez”.

Olivarez faces up to 20 years in prision and fines.

Editor’s Note: Olivarez was the insurance agent for many political subdivisions in South Texas some of which are PSJA Independent School District, Hidalgo County, Rio Grande City Independent School District, San Benito Independent School District, Roma Independent School District, Harlingen Independent School District, City of Harlingen, Cameron County, Mission Independent School District, Ed Couch Elsa Independent School District, Edinburg Independent School District and others. Annual insurance commissions may have averaged many millions of dollars. We learned for example, through an Open Record Request, the Mission ISD was paying Olivarez $250,000.

If bribery was employed by Mr. Olivarez or others with any of these entities, one would expect the FBI investigation to be prolonged. With recent public corruption indictments in deep South Texas, some taking years to develop iron clad cases, investigators must be short handed and overworked.

 Admitted Felon – Half Guilty Half Pregnant Olivarez

Harlingen Clinic & Doctor Sanctioned

Harlingen Clinic And Doctor Agree To Halt Sales of Unapproved Medical Devices
By: TexasBusiness.com     Posted: Sunday, November 7, 2010 12:02 am
Harlingen Clinic And Doctor Agree To Halt Sales of Unapproved Medical Devices | brn_har_txbz, Bliss W. Clark,Clark Orthopedics & Rehabilitation,

Texas Business reports:  The Texas Attorney General’s office charged the physician-owner of a Harlingen-based orthopedic clinic with providing unapproved medical devices to patients.

Under a court order obtained by the attorney general’s office, Dr. Bliss W. Clark and Clark Orthopedics & Rehabilitation must pay civil penalties to the State and are prohibited from using unapproved medical devices in the future.

 The defendants provide comprehensive care to Rio Grande Valley patients with degenerative disorders of the hip and knee.

According to state investigators, the defendants improperly acquired arthritis injections from a New Braunfels wholesale distributor that was not licensed to distribute such devices in Texas.

 The injections, Orthovisc, Synvisc and Hyalgan, are used to relieve arthritis-related pain in patients’ knees.

Although the injections are generally approved for use in the United States, the defendants’ wholesale supplier is not licensed to distribute the injections in the State of Texas. As a result, Clark Orthopedics purchased the injections from an unlicensed supplier in violation of Texas law.

In addition, inspectors with the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS), which referred the case to the attorney general’s office, discovered that the defendants’ Hyalgan and Orthovisc products bore foreign-language labels and were intended for distribution in Turkey.

Because the items were legally intended for export only, DSHS determined they were misbranded devices and unlawful for use in the United States.

The distributor provided invoices to the State indicating that Clark Orthopedics purchased numerous Hyalgan kits, Synvisc and Orthovisc syringes from January 2008 until March 2009.

According to the agreed final judgment, the defendants violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Health and Safety Code. The defendants must pay $86,000 in civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and investigative costs.