A Chicago pharmacist was sentenced to seven years in federal prison after being convicted at trial of collecting more than $ 1.7 million through false claims he submitted to insurance companies for a drug that he never dispensed and stealing the identities of unsuspecting pharmacy customers to make that money , which he used to finance a lavish lifestyle . The defendant , RONALD KIELAR , also created fake documents to make his false insurance claims appear legitimate . Kielar , 76 , of Mundelein , was a pharmacist at the former Cartagena Pharmacy , located in the 1500 block of West Devon Avenue , which was owned by his ex - wife . He was sentenced to five years in prison on six counts of health care fraud and one count of obstruction of justice , and received a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years on three counts of aggravated identity theft . Kielar , who was convicted on all 10 counts he was charged with at a trial last fall , was ordered to begin serving the 84 - month sentence on June 10 . U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow , Jr. , who imposed the sentence on Friday , also ordered Kielar to pay more than $ 1.725 million in restitution and to forfeit nearly $ 78,000 in proceeds from the sale of property he owned in Florida . According to court documents , Kielar used patients insurance information , including their names and dates of birth , to bill for the drug Procrit , which stimulates the production of red blood cells . These patients , however , were never prescribed Procrit , Kielar never provided them with the medication , and the patients never authorized the use of their insurance information to submit claims for payment . After he was indicted , Kielar forged prescriptions , patient receipts , and false invoices to make the insurance claims look legitimate . Between November 2004 and August 2010 , Kielar submitted 603 false claims and received more than $ 1.7 million from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and the United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midwest Health Benefit Fund . Each time [ Kielar ] hit the submit button on the pharmacys computer for a Procrit claim , he made a calculated choice : to lie to the victim insurance company who received , processed , and paid on the claim , Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather McShain wrote in a sentencing memo . Kielar also betrayed a physician who had been his friend for 40 years and whose name and DEA registration number Kielar used without permission , as well as unsuspecting patients whose personal information he used . Evidence showed that Kielar used proceeds from the fraud scheme to pay salaries to himself and his ex - wife , and then used those funds to pay mortgages on his home in Illinois , as well as properties in Florida and Arizona . The sentence was announced by Zachary T. Fardon , United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois ; Robert J. Holley , Special Agent - in - Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ; James Vanderberg , Special Agent - in - Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago ; and John Redmond , Special Agent - in - Charge of the Chicago Office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations . The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather McShain and Steven J. Dollear . ;