Editor’s note: An administrative dismissal from the state attorney’s office was filed in this case on Aug. 8, 2023. The administrative dismissal said that the charge had been reviewed and that no further action would be taken. In other words, the case would not be prosecuted.
Sarasota police arrested Dr. Michael Dattoli, 64, of Anna Maria, for allegedly obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, criminal use of personal identification information and false and fraudulent insurance claims.
Police arrested Dattoli, a Sarasota-based physician, Dec. 16.
The investigation dates back more than a year.
In August, Sarasota police spoke with investigators with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Pharmaceutical Diversion Unit regarding a prescription fraud case that happened in 2019 and 2020 involving Dattoli.
Investigators with SCSO said two pharmacies involved were in the city. Prescriptions for Diazepam, a controlled substance, were filled three times in the city under Dattoli’s wife’s name, according to a Dec. 16 news release from SPD.
In September, Sarasota officers obtained copies of multiple prescriptions from several pharmacies that were phoned into the pharmacy in 2020 by the Dattoli Cancer Center.
The prescriptions were filled and picked up the same day in 2020 by Dattoli, who provided his driver’s license as identification, according to SPD.
A victim of the alleged fraud, who worked at the cancer center, told SPD that during a check of his Florida prescription drug controlled substance database in September, he noticed several fraudulent prescriptions written in 2020.
Three of the prescriptions were written to Dattoli’s wife but the complainant said he never saw her as a patient.
In October, SPD officers interviewed Dattoli’s wife, who, according to the department, said she had never been a patient at the center, advised the prescription was not hers and that she had never taken the medications in question.
In November, SPD subpoenaed bank records that matched accounts belonging to Dattoli, with the same address as the Dattoli Cancer Center and the same social security number as Dattoli.
The records showed the same dates, total purchase price and stores where fraudulent prescriptions were filled, picked up and purchased by Dattoli.
Earlier this month, SPD subpoenaed documentation from the Florida Blue insurance company that showed Dattoli was a policyholder with them and his wife was a dependent for the policy.
In the paperwork from Florida Blue, the alleged fraudulent prescriptions for Diazepam in June 2020, August 2020 and October 2020 for Dattoli’s wife were listed as being submitted.
Dattoli faces charges of three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, three counts of criminal use of personal identification information and three counts of insurance fraud.
He was taken to the Sarasota County Jail Dec. 16. The jail webpage was offline Dec. 20 and Dattoli’s status could not be determined. A first appearance in court was set for Jan. 21.
The SPD said the case is ongoing and detectives believe there may be additional victims. SPD asked people with information related to the case to contact its narcotics unit at 941-263-6009 or contact Crime Stoppers at 941-366-TIPS or online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com.
— Lisa Neff