Former Meridian psychiatrist pleads guilty to federal charge

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
Sept. 21, 2002
Dr. Walter Ocampo Anderson, the former owner of The Children's Clinic in Meridian, pleaded guilty to money-laundering Friday in U.S. District Court in Jackson.
Anderson was charged in December 2001 in a federal indictment alleging that he defrauded Medicaid of millions of dollars in a false billing scheme.
He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The doctor's son, Walter P. Anderson Jr., was also indicted and pleaded guilty Friday to knowing about the crime and helping to conceal it. The younger Anderson faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Dr. Anderson allowed unlicensed psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers to work with patients, and then billed Medicaid for the services.
In the most blatant example cited by the U.S. Attorney's office on Friday, Dr. Anderson allowed two of his psychiatric patients and several high school students to lead sessions with children.
Dr. Anderson had escaped a prison sentence last year in a similar prosecution by Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore when criminal charges were dropped after he agreed to pay almost $3 million in civil fines, restitution and reimbursements.
U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton, noting last year's $158 million Medicaid shortfall, promises aggressive prosecution of dishonest health care providers.
A sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Tom Lee has been set for Dec. 2.