Coeur d’Alene Physician Sentenced to 40 Months Imprisonment and $1.25 Million in Restitution for Involvement in Fraudulent Telemedicine Fraud Scheme

Yakima, Washington – On July 8, 2026, Chief District Court Judge Stanely A. Bastian sentenced defendant Dr. David Antonio Becerril of Coeur d’ Alene, ID, age 70, to a 40-month term of imprisonment, to be followed by a 3-year term of court supervision after he is released from federal prison for his role in a nationwide telemarketing conspiracy to defraud Medicare. Dr. Becerril was convicted after a jury trial in September 2025 of 16 felony counts including Conspiracy to commit Health Care Fraud, Conspiracy to commit Wire Fraud, and multiple counts of Health Care Fraud, Wire Fraud, and False Statements Relating to Health Care Matters. Judge Bastian also ordered Dr. Becerril to pay restitution in the full amount he defrauded from Medicare, $1,250, 667.19, and ordered forfeiture in the form of a money judgment of $37,340, the amount which Dr. Becerril directly profited from the fraudulent scheme. At trial, in September 2025, the United States presented evidence that between February 2018 and September 2019, Dr. Becerril, a licensed Washington physician, participated in a scheme and conspiracy to obtain millions of dollars by falsely billing Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests and durable medical equipment, including back, knee, shoulder, and ankle braces. The evidence at trial showed that while contracting with the fraudulent telemedicine and telemarketing company Real Time Physicians, LLC, (“Real Time”) Dr. Becerril signed false and fraudulent orders for genetic tests and braces for elderly Medicare beneficiaries that Dr. Becerril had never seen, spoken to, heard of, or had any contact with whatsoever, and which included deceased patients as well as elderly patients who had no limbs for the braces they were prescribed by Dr. Becerril. Dr. Becerril reviewed the Real Time prescriptions for, on average, 26 seconds before signing them and falsely attesting to their medical necessity. Real Time paid Dr. Becerril $20 for each phony prescription he falsely certified to be used to fraudulently bill Medicare. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Bastian remarked that while working for Real Time, Dr. Becerril performed no legitimate medical work and did not exercise any independent medical judgment. Doctors, like lawyers and judges, Judge Bastian pointed out, are trained to protect and maintain their licenses, protect their clients, and protect the system in which they operate, and Dr. Becerril failed to do that by essentially selling his medical license through his signature. Judge Bastian further agreed with the United States that through and even after trial, Dr. Becerril has been “steadfastly unapologetic” for his actions.