An Allentown chiropractor will spend up to 23 months in jail for billing insurance companies for work he didn't do and, in a separate case, attacking his girlfriend at his office-home.
Dean K. Ziegler, 49, was sentenced Thursday to five to 23 months in Lehigh County Prison by Judge Maria L. Dantos.
Dean K. Ziegler, 49, was sentenced Thursday to five to 23 months in Lehigh County Prison by Judge Maria L. Dantos.
Ziegler must report to the prison Friday morning to begin serving his sentence.
Ziegler pleaded guilty last month to insurance fraud, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor.
Ziegler, who has run a business out of his residence at 101 S. 14th St., was charged with insurance fraud in December 2010. He allegedly billed five insurance companies for more than $3,300 worth of exams in January and February 2009 — while he was in Lehigh County Prison for violating parole in an unrelated case.
Acting on a tip, authorities said they investigated and determined Ziegler had billed the insurance companies for 10 appointments that never took place. He also allegedly submitted reimbursements for 12 manual therapy treatments, which cost more than the therapy that had actually been done, investigators said.
He was charged with assaulting his girlfriend at his home/office in September. Police said he punched 34-year-old Jill Aleene Bartholf, broke her nose with a kick and threw her down a flight of steps.
According to police:
When officers arrived at 3:40 a.m. Sept. 20, they found blood in front of the house, blood on the first and second floors and Bartholf sitting on a couch, bruised and bleeding from her nose.
Ziegler fled in his car before officers showed up and was arrested later. Bartholf was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
