The doctor received kickbacks for referring his patients to specific New Jersey labs for testing
CAMDEN - A Toms River doctor, who referred patients to specific lab companies in exchange for cash payouts, was sentenced to just over a year in prison Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced in a statement.
District Judge Joseph Rodriguez sentenced Vincent Destasio, 55, of Toms River, to a year and a day in prison Thursday, after the doctor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to accept cash bribes.
Destasio is a doctor with offices in Toms River who specializes in osteopathic medicine, according to the statement.
The money came from two sales representatives, Daniel Gilman, 63, of Ocean Grove, and Kenneth Robberson, 47, of Wall, who ran PROMED, a marketing and sales company that worked specifically with blood and DNA testing labs, according to U.S. Attorney's Office.
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Over the course of a year - from March of 2014 to May of 2015 - the representatives paid Destasio thousands of dollars to refer his patients to a specific blood testing lab and another specific DNA testing lab, according to the statement.
Gilman and Robberson got the money in monthly commission checks from the two lab companies, then paid Destasio a certain amount from those checks, based on the number of patients he had referred, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated in the news release.
For their part, Gilman and Robberson also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a physician. Gilman was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Robberson's sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman