(1) This was a pragmatic decision by Rhodes, as he was being asked by his attorney for a $100,000 retainer; even though the lawyer believed he would beat the charges, it was the path of least resistance to accept PTI. Regrettably, Rhodes did not appreciate how his very public arrest, seemingly designed to make a public spectacle of him, would be well documented in the press and on the web, while the pedestrian outcome of his case would get no publicity at all.
(2) Patient initials are used herein for continuity and clarity with their use in published court opinions.
(3) Robbins authored the warrant affidavit and served as the arrest’s proximate cause; Murphy’s conduct was material but not the but-for cause, hence Robbins alone was named in the §1983 action.
(4) Rhodes v. Robbins, Case No. 3:18-cv-673-J-34JBT, M.D. Fla. March 13, 2019, Order on Motion to Dismiss, EXHIBIT 1.
(5) Rhodes v. Robbins, Case No. 3:18-cv-673-J-34JBT, M.D. Fla. March 30, 2021, Order on Summary Judgment, EXHIBIT 2.
(8) Case No.: 8:20-cv-802-KKM-AAS (M.D. Fla, July 6, 2022), affirmed, Case No. 23-11778 (11th Cir. Oct. 24, 2024).
(9) This case turns the legal maxim ignorantia juris non excusat on its ear, because Rhodes and Perez were not violating the law, and everyone charged with knowing that missed the boat.
(10) Bryant’s slanderous December 2013 Facebook posts and the ACISS tip reports of Bryant (T14-1406, entered 02/04/2014, 15:56) and OV (T14-1407, entered 02/04/2014 16:04) are included as appendices to the Amended Complaint, EXHIBIT 4. Bryant also alleged in his tip that an employee of Rhodes’s, Jessica Moseley, had left because she was “suspect” of his billing practices, when in fact she left for a full-time job with benefits. See note 33, infra.
(11) See EXHIBIT 5 for a collection of these communications. The text reflected his desire to bring Rhodes to ruin: “I revel in the fact that you're going down and are going to be destroyed. … I pray you lose everything. … Its called KARMA, and its pronounced haha f--- you!”
(13) Id., at pg. 57. Bryant stated he would never forget Geraghty’s exact words. Id. The detectives also said arguably inappropriate things to Bryant, including on a phone call during the investigation in which Bryant states that Robbins told him, “we’re going to get this guy.” Id., at pg. 51.
(14) Geraghty apparently put Bryant in contact with the Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Florida Blue, Jay Alligood, with whom Bryant held at least 1 phone conversation, but Geraghty kept Bryant informed of the progress of the investigation during their weekly golf outings. Id., at pp. 55-63.conp
(16) Blanton was the main source of information that she was fed by Missy Ross and Tammy Wilson; Bryant also admitted to having at least 1 phone conversation and various email exchanges with Wilson. EXHIBIT 6, at pp. 33-42.
(17) Email communications between OV and Rhodes are included in EXHIBIT 7. It is unclear what language OV interpreted as a threat. Moreover, in her subsequent interview by Robbins, OV said that Rhodes stated in his communications that he would “make [her] happy,” which was an outright lie; as shown in his February 5 email, Rhodes said he “will be happy to resolve” the issue. The summary of this interview is included as EXHIBIT 8; see pg. 3 for the aforementioned quote.
(18) In her later deposition in the civil case brought against her by Rhodes, OV stated she never met Bryant and had not talked to Blanton, and in his deposition, Bryant stated that Blanton was the primary source of all of his information; that both Bryant and OV reported an alleged $56,000 in fraudulent billing shows either that they were lying or there was a complex information network amongst the actors introduced here.
(19) OV reported that the lawyer handling her car accident claims, Michael Ossi, was the source for the $56,000 figure, but how this figure was derived is unknown (EXHIBIT 9, pg. 114). An extemporaneous letter from Ossi to Nationwide claimed that medical expenses as of February 3, 2014, totaled $62,000 (EXHIBIT 10). Rhodes actually billed $22,776 from July 2, 2013 through January 15, 2014, of which OVH was paid $8,282.98 by Nationwide. EXHIBIT 11. Robbins’s affidavit of arrest alleged a total of $2,734.00 in fraudulent billing (EXHIBIT 12, pg. 2). The detectives had issued a subpoena for Rhodes’s billing records on February 12, so they were fully apprised of actual billing. EXHIBIT 13.
(20) OV asserted that she received no more than “7 – 10 massage” between September 4, 2013 and January 15, 2014, see EXHIBIT 7. A review of OV’s records show that she and the therapist signed manual therapy notes on 27 of 39 office visits in that time period, yet this evidence did not lead the detectives to question her veracity.
(21) Kuchler’s report clearly stated that OV was being treated 3 times per week at Rhodes’s clinic and spelled out the same treatments for which her insurance company was being billed: “She left Dr. Bloom when he closed his office and Started (sic) treating with Dr. Steven Rhodes on 7/3/2013. She is currently treating three times a week with treatment consisting of adjustments, ultrasound, traction, and electrical stimulation.” EXHIBIT 14, at pg. 1. This IME report was in Robbins’s hands, but also was not used to cast doubt on OV’s allegations. The district court dismissed the relevance of this admission by OV because the amended complaint did not specifically state that the treatments were by Rhodes. See Rhodes v. Robbins, 1st Amended Complaint, filed June 19, 2018, EXHIBIT 15, pp. 3-4, and the trial judge conveniently surmised she could have been receiving the treatments somewhere else (EXHIBIT 1, at pg. 28). Notably, a physician performing an IME is obligated to record where a patient is being treated, so no inferences may reasonably be drawn about a patient possibly being treated by an unnamed doctor.
(22) See EXHIBIT 16. The unidentified male in the transcribed interview is Murphy. Reshen later stated that she had gone to the office of Murphy in July 2013 and presented him with evidence of Bloom’s nefarious practices, and warned him that Wilson and OV would protect Bloom. For some reason, the July 2013 interview was not recorded and there is no ACISS report on it, and the DIF investigation of Bloom –– Case 14-162 –– appears to have been opened in 2014. The EXHIBIT 16 interview was on January 2, 2014, so the investigation of Bloom was under way more than a month before the investigation of Rhodes began, though when Reshen first lodged her complaint that led to this investigation is unknown.
(23) See EXHIBIT 17.
(24) Rhodes first knew of Perez’s license lapse in September 2013, probably because her license was posted in the office and Ross brought it to his attention. Rhodes exchanged texts with Perez at that time, and she assured him she would have the license fee paid. She did not in fact do it. Copies of these texts are available on request.
(25) A 2006 Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services policy on “incident to physician practice” allowed physical therapy, including massage therapy, to be performed and billed as long as physicians’ employees “meet the standards and conditions that would apply to such therapy services if they were furnished by a therapist, with the exception of the licensing requirement.” Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Letter from Stuart Wright to Leslie V. Norwalk. May 1, 2006, at pg. 4.
(26) Perez provided one therapy session to patient OV after September 1, who maintained she only received 7 to 10 “massages” for the entire fall season, and restitution to her insurer of $1,755.21 was clearly not based on that one fee.
(27) Florida Stat. § 627.736(1)(a)(5) reads: “Medical benefits do not include massage therapy as defined in § 480.033 or acupuncture as defined in § 457.102, regardless of the person, entity, or licensee providing massage therapy or acupuncture, and a licensed massage therapist or licensed acupuncturist may not be reimbursed for medical benefits under this section.” (italics added); this section was added by Ch. 2012-197, § 10, Laws of Fla. (effective Jan. 1, 2013). See GEICO v. The Right Spinal Clinic, Inc., 8:20-cv-00802-KKM-AAS, Mem. Op. (M.D. Fla, July 6, 2022), affirmed, Case No. 23-11778 (11th Cir. Oct. 24, 2024) (granting summary judgment holding the defendant liable for reimbursement of plaintiff insurance company for fees paid over a 6-year period for services performed by LMTs). Notably, it appears that no criminal fraud indictments were sought, despite the overbilling of nearly $700,000.00.
(28) Adding insult to injury, Perez was arrested for working after her license lapsed, served 4 days in jail, and paid $3,923.00 in investigation costs. EXHIBIT 18. Rhodes reports that she was also used by the detectives to try and get Rhodes to make some sort of admission, calling him from the officer’s car and trying to eke out some sort of statement. One wonders what enticements were offered for her “cooperation.” Perez passed away in 2021.
(29) Facebook posts of pictures and other communications amongst these individuals are copied in EXHIBIT 19.
(30) The ACISS report of Kunz’s complaint is presented in EXHIBIT 20; the patient involved was AN, discussed below. It turns out that the detectives themselves may have initiated contact with Kunz – an ACISS update on the investigation from February 6 states that “626s” were filed with Kemper and Nationwide, then notes, “Further contact with [Special Investigation Unit] Kunz with Kemper.” This was 1 day after meeting with the primary complainant and her accomplices. See the bottom line of EXHIBIT 21.
(31) Ross was interviewed 4 times by the detectives, yielding a veritable firehose of speculations and allegations. See EXHIBIT 22.
(32) Ross texted Rhodes about interviewing and hiring her friend, a licensed massage therapist. See EXHIBIT 23.
(33) See Robbins’s summary of the February 5, 2014 interview of Wilson, EXHIBIT 24. OV was present. Wilson replaced Jessica Moseley in the office, who had left for a full time job with benefits. See EXHIBIT 22, at pg. 4. Moseley came back to work for Rhodes in the aftermath of the events described here.
(34) DB suffered an employment injury, and she was charged a copay of $45 per appointment beginning in May 2013 through January 8, 2014; her full bill would have been paid when her workers compensation claim was resolved. She thus profited directly from her complaint against Rhodes, and Optum Insurance Company got a tiny windfall as a result of the unjustified restitution payment.
(35) Rhodes recalls an incident from this time period when Wilson asked him to sign a blank fee slip for DB; he declined, noting DB was a cash patient. This suggests that Wilson was either grossly incompetent or was attempting in a very transparent way to set Rhodes up.
(36) Patients’ complaints about Wilson’s professionalism and skills are presented in EXHIBIT 25.
(37) Wilson sent a nasty text to Rhodes on February 8, 2014, asking if he felt the noose tightening, and saying “Your pathetic life is over and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.” EXHIBIT 26. This text was sent about ½ hour before the similar text from Bryant. See note 11, supra.
(38) A transcription of a tape recording of the interview, dated June 19, 2014, has one of the detectives asking if one person by the name of Missy was “leaving already” (EXHIBIT 27, pg. 80) and OV discussed the presence of Ross and herself at Bloom’s house while the interview was taking place. EXHIBIT 9, pg. 124. Strangely, at one point during the interview, while discussing Reshen, Detective Clark stated to Bloom, “I’m trying to clear your name is what I’m trying to do right now.” Id., at pg. 32. This hardly sounds like a legitimate purpose for the detectives. The detectives and Bloom also appear to exchange knowing laughs when discussing Reshen. EXHIBIT 27, at pp. 44-45 (this is clear on the tape, which is available on request), further undermining any claims of objectivity or fairness, much less that their primary motive was to discover the truth. It appears that the detectives did not separately interview Bloom about the allegations Reshen lodged against him. The rapidity and zeal with which they pursued Rhodes stands in stark contrast to the lackadaisical, kid-gloves treatment of Bloom. Indeed, in the Bloom interview, Clark says his memory may be a bit hazy because it had been 6 months since the Reshen interview (pg. 55).
(39) See EXHIBIT 27, pp. 41-43 (Bloom avoids answering questions about providing injectable drugs to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer Kevin Smith, who had told the detectives he had received injections in Bloom’s office, and saying he didn’t think he had injected testosterone in a different patient, pp. 41-42). Blanton admitted this to Rhodes in texts on July 9, 2013 (EXHIBIT 28). One compounding pharmacy that Reshen told the detectives had been used by Bloom was North Beaches Pharmacy, which was one of six pharmacies found guilty of fraud in 2015. See https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jacksonville-based-pharmacies-accused-ripping-acti/26797776/
(41) The District Court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals treated statements by the Detective to be truthful, completely discounting patients’ affidavits filed in support of Rhodes asserting that statements attributed to them were lies.
(42) Cognitive psychology literature suggests that patient recall of therapy duration is extremely unreliable; time perception is context-dependent and malleable, especially in low-arousal, low-stimulus settings like massage/manual therapy (Kondo HM, Gheorghiu E, Pinheiro AP. Malleability and fluidity of time perception. Sci Rep 2024; 14(1):12244); attentional gate models emphasize that unless attention is focused on time, recall is distorted (Block RA, Zakay D. Prospective and retrospective duration judgments: a metanalytic review. Psychonomic Bull & Rev 1997; 4:184-197); and retrospective timing studies show systematic overestimation of short intervals and underestimation of longer ones, with wide individual variability (Balcı F, Unubol H, Grondin S, et al. Dynamics of retrospective timing: a big data approach. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:1840-1847). Even when people are cued to monitor time (which is not done in therapy sessions) only modest improvements can be expected (Morin A, Grondin S. Mindfulness and time perception: a systematic integrative review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105657).
(43) The Investigation Summary Report filed by Robbins (undated), EXHIBIT 29, states that the investigation commenced with the filing of a complaint by OV, and makes no mention of the complaint filed by Bryant. Perhaps the detective was trying to avoid unnecessary attention being brought to the obvious implication of conspiracy. This summary also references the February 18, 2014 filing of an online complaint by Kunz, but makes no mention of the prior contacts of Kunz by the detectives, which might appear to be a solicitation to have Kunz file the complaint. Supra note 30.
(44) Ross was interviewed by the detectives at least 4 times between February 7 and 28, 2014; ACISS reports on those interviews are gathered in EXHIBIT 22.
(45) Confirmation bias, outcome bias, and hindsight bias yield what has been called tunnel vision in investigative and forensic sciences, and are well documented tendencies whereby investigators prematurely commit to a hypothesis, then selectively interpret or disregard inconsistent evidence, undermining objectivity. Kassin SM, Dror IE, Kukucka J. The forensic confirmation bias: problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. J Appl Res Mem & Cogn 2013; 2:42-52. See also Cooper GS, Meterka V. Cognitive bias research in forensic science: a systematic review. Forensic Sci Int 2019; 297:35-46 (reviewing extensive literature on bias entry points in forensic decision-making). In the law review context, Findley & Scott describe “multiple dimensions” of tunnel vision in criminal cases, including early hypothesis fixation and suppression of alternative theories. Findley KA, Scott MS. The multiple dimensions of tunnel vision in criminal cases. Wisc L Rev 2006; 2006:291-397.
(46) BL was a dancer, and Rhodes believes he may have given offense by refusing to join the others named here in going to see BL perform, which he felt might cross an ethical line.
(47) See the details in the Investigative Summary Report, EXHIBIT 29. AN later attested that the detectives were accusatory and aggressive with him, to the point of even subpoenaing his work timesheets and phone records, the latter to affirm his statement that Rhodes had not called him before the detectives interviewed him. EXHIBIT 30. See also the affidavit and letter of patient MS,
EXHIBIT 31 (complaining about the way her daughter, HS, was treated by the detectives, and, among other things, that Ross was angry that Rhodes did not hire her friend).
(48) See EXHIBIT 32. HC is a large man for whom longer manual therapy sessions are typical.
(49) EXHIBIT 33 includes RG’s affidavit, as well as a report filed by David Hodges about the interview, held with Tagalog translators to ensure RG understood what was being said.
(50) Summary of the investigation, EXHIBIT 29, at pg. 9. The detectives also sought charges against Lisa Jackmore, who they alleged could not perform any office services without being a Registered Chiropractic Assistant. This was not legally required in 2014, and on information and belief, Jackmore was not prosecuted.
(51) See EXHIBIT 34. Case 14-162 (Bloom) was closed in October 2014 with no charges being filed. The detectives decided they couldn’t judge who was responsible between Reshen and Bloom, each of whom blamed the other.