“It was to secure evidence regarding possible billing irregularities that we’ve detected through some of our fraud prevention efforts,” Teets said.
The search warrant was sealed as of Thursday, according to an official at Fairfield Municipal Court.
Justine Papayiannis, an employee at the pain center, said Friday the facility was open and running business as usual.
“It was an audit from one of the owner’s previous partners,” Papayiannis said.
Teets said the agencies interviewed Dr. Tariq Arif and he was cooperative. The investigation is ongoing, Teets said.
Pat Lipscomb of Hamilton was shopping Thursday afternoon at the Pleasantree Gift Shoppe next door to the pain clinic. She said agents were still collecting evidence at 2:30 p.m.
“I’ve never seen an audit like that before,” Lipscomb said. “We were watching out the window and they were carrying out boxes and bags.”
Lipscomb said at least eight officials were on scene and a special agent was questioning people in the area.
Fairfild Police Lt. Kevin Haddix said his department had one investigator on scene Thursday during the search, but has little other involvement in the investigation.
“I believe we helped them with the search warrant going through the courts,” Haddix said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or hpoturalski@coxohio.com.
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