Ocala, Florida — Marion County residents no longer have to worry about Michael or Rebecca Tarver performing dental work on children.
On Wednesday, Ocala Post received multiple e-mails that stated Churchill Dentistry — formerly Polliwog Dental — had been sold to Heart of Florida Health Center. Ocala Post was able to confirm the sale on Thursday.
HFHC will accept Medicaid, something the Tarver’s were no longer allowed to do since there is still an open Medicaid fraud investigation against the husband and wife team.
Michael Tarver has maintained his innocence from the beginning and believes that the “system” was just out to get him.
When the fraud investigation was initiated in January, Michael Tarver called it a “witch hunt.”
In November 2013, Ocala Post reached out to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to find out if Tarver was being investigated for Medicaid fraud in addition to the child abuse allegations. Press Secretary Shelisha Coleman wrote, “We cannot confirm or deny whether we have an open audit or investigation on a particular provider.”
Then, on January 28, it became clear that the pediatric dentistry was under investigation after the office was raided for the second time.
According to the Florida Department of Health, this investigation involves multiple agencies including the FBI, and the Attorney General’s Office. The Ocala Police Department assisted during the execution of search warrants.
The Tarver’s have been plagued with legal troubles since 2012, and Ocala Post has followed the story from the beginning.