Former dental clinic owner ordered to serve time in prison

A former dental clinic operator was sentenced to prison for running multiple fraud schemes.

Pamela Van Drie was ordered to spend four years and nine months in federal prison without parole and to pay $1.1 million in restitution, according to a news release from the office of Tim Garrison, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri. In February, Van Drie was convicted in a 40-count indictment with her husband, Lorin Van Drie, who has not yet been sentenced.

The Van Dries owned Springfield-based All About Smiles LLC, which operated now-shuttered dental clinics in the Queen City, Bolivar and Mountain Grove. They also owned PL Family Management Co. LLC, which managed the clinics’ staff.

The larger of the conspiracies, to the tune of $885,748, involved two schemes to defraud Medicaid. In both schemes, Pamela Van Drie and Dr. James Dye, a dentist at the clinics, fraudulently billed Medicaid for services and products that should not have been covered, according to the release.

Dye, who pleaded guilty in February 2016 in a separate but related case, had his license suspended by the Missouri Dental Board over the crimes, according to court documents.

The Van Dries participated together in a separate conspiracy to defraud the government by withholding payroll taxes from the IRS. Through All About Smiles and PL Family Management, the Van Dries failed to pay $194,751 in payroll taxes to the IRS, according to the release.

From 2013 to 2015, the Van Dries diverted money from their businesses for personal expenses, including purchasing a boat, recreational vehicle, utility trailers and family vacations, court documents indicate.