2 PLEAD GUILTY IN $19 MILLION LAB FRAUD.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

Two owners of a former Glendale medical laboratory pleaded guilty Monday to charges stemming from a fake billing scheme that included submitting $19 million in false claims to the Medi-Cal program, according to U.S. Attorney Debra Yang.

Luisa Gonzalez, 57, of Lawndale and Juan Carlos Ciraolo, 61, of Rancho Palos Verdes filed plea agreements last week admitting guilt to charges of conspiracy and money laundering. The scheme is believed to be one of the largest criminal cases of its kind in California, according to Yang.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6. They face a maximum 5 years in prison each.

Two other defendants, Alfred Morales, 38, of Huntington Park and Dr. Luis Lombardi, 42, of Lawndale, also pleaded guilty to federal charges relating to the same billing scheme. The two ran La Gaudalupana Medical clinic in Hawthorne. Authorities said they purchased blood samples from patients at the clinic and created false documents, which were sent to the Glendale office.

Gonzalez and Ciraolo ran the Glendale-based Los Angeles Bio-Clinical Laboratory at 420 E. Broadway during the mid-1990s, and they used two other clinics in Los Angeles County in the scheme.

In 1996 and 1997, Los Angeles Bio-Clinical Laboratory submitted about $19 million in claims for payment for blood tests. The laboratory submitted bills for comprehensive blood exams that were reimbursed by Medi-Cal at about $550 each.

Federal investigators shut down the laboratory in 1997.