Henderson pediatrician charged with fraud
A Henderson pediatrician has been charged with participating in a scheme to defraud investors and chronically ill patients through the use of experimental stem cell implant procedures.
Dr. Ralph Conti, 50, is charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. He also faces eight counts of mail fraud and 15 counts of wire fraud.
Previously indicted in the case was Alfred Sapse, 85, of Las Vegas.
Sapse was arrested on fraud charges in July 2010 after federal authorities accused him of duping patients and investors with claims that he was a retired physician who had developed a novel medical procedure involving stem cells. His trial is scheduled to start in March.
The original indictment alleged Sapse used an unidentified Las Vegas pediatrician and a Mexican physician to perform experimental procedures on chronically ill patients. Under Sapse’s direction, according to the indictment, the doctors surgically implanted placental tissue in about 134 patients during the previous four years.
According to the indictment, Sapse received about $1 million from patients and investors and used about $700,000 of that money "on personal expenditures and for gambling at local casinos."
Authorities allege Sapse hired Conti, who had no prior stem cell training, in the fall of 2005. Conti is accused of performing the implant procedure on about 34 patients in Las Vegas, although the procedure was not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
