Guest Op-Ed by William N. Spicola
Good afternoon State Attorney Kramer,
I am writing regarding your letter to close out the Dr. Fetner investigation. First, thank you for the important updates you provided the governor. You have been generous with your time and provided an opportunity for my clients to inform you how they feel Dr. Fetner and ACPDO and Boyne Capital victimized them.
Your work disclosed that Dr. Fetner has a previously undisclosed immunity agreement with the Miami SAO, and he cannot be prosecuted for any crimes that he may have committed by allowing our client’s NPI numbers to be used without their permission and the other allegations contained in the DFS report.
We believe an immunity deal, by its very definition, requires someone to have disclosed something regarding criminal activity so that they are then granted a free pass by the government for any potential crime they may have committed (underscoring that your investigation did not result in an exoneration of Dr. Fetner as some now claim) in exchange for truthful testimony about the other criminal activity they are aware of.
Secondly, your investigation uncovered that the Miami SAO does not have a record of what Dr. Fetner provided them in exchange for his immunity deal, so other law enforcement agencies like yourself have no way of knowing precisely the scope or limitations of his immunity. For a State Attorney to lose or be unable to otherwise provide a copy of proffered testimony given in exchange for immunity is highly unusual, if not unheard of.
There would and should be a record of immunity deals kept in the context of a case that resulted in five arrests in Miami, but the unexplained reality in the Dr. Fetner matter is the records cannot be found. Notwithstanding the newly disclosed immunity deal, Miami Assistant State Attorney Michael Spivack wrote an April 28, 2023 an email to Defense counsel that:
“It is simply factually incorrect that the continued use of Ania’s personal NPI and name was occurring without Ryon’s knowledge. After being confronted with this fact, Ryon admitted it to me and Detective Fajardo in Susy’s presence. At this point the most productive process to follow is to move forward with the two charges listed in the information I have provided to all counsel…For my part, I truly believe Ryon is guilty and that the state has sufficient evidence to prove it.”
Additionally, as shown in the sworn deposition testimony (in a civil matter with ACPDO and Boyne Capital) provided to your office, Liberty Dental Plan Associate Vice President of Florida Compliance and National Special Investigations Unit alleged Dr. Fetner committed statutory violations as a “dead doc.” Sworn Deposition of Rebecca Gould P. 82 L. 22-25, P. 83 L. 1-25, and P. 84 L. 7-23 She also initiated an investigation by filing a complaint with the State of Florida’s Medicaid Program Integrity Department, a reference to suspected fraud. At that point, Florida then began its investigation into Florida Medicaid fraud, which proves the state did not initiate the investigation into this matter as some have claimed.
“I made the determination – I received a request for information. Based on the request for information, I did my research of what was being requested. And I had concerns that there was possibly, you know, fraud that may have occurred, or abuse, at a minimum abuse that had occurred…I made an immediate referral, within my contractual requirements, to the State of Florida’s Medicaid Program Integrity department, a reference to suspected fraud.” Sworn Deposition of Rebecca Gould P. 67 L. 4-10, 19-22
By failing to make or preserve the record of what immunity was provided, the Miami SAO appears to have provided Fetner with quasi de facto blanket immunity because there is no way to know the outer bounds of what he testified about. Between the missing immunity testimony and ASA Spivack’s email, I am sure you understand why my clients will forever question how the “justice” system worked in this case. They are, however, determined and will still not give up.
I understand the geographic jurisdictional challenges this case provides and the limitations of your appointment. Again, my clients appreciate all the work done by your office on this important matter which personally affected them and other pediatric dental patients.
Sincerely,
William N. Spicola
William N. Spicola Is an attorney based out of Tallahassee
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