FRANKLIN COUNTY — A district judge in southern Illinois has sentenced a 55-year-old Franklin County doctor to federal prison after he admitted to billing fraudulent insurance claims for profit.

Dr. Lee Peter Bee, formerly of Sesser, but now of Fenton, Missouri, was sentenced to five months imprisonment and five months home confinement after he pleaded guilty to two counts of healthcare fraud. Dr. Bee was also ordered to pay $195,170 in restitution.

According to court documents, Dr. Bee practiced osteopathic medicine and operated a private clinic in Sesser. Between January 2015 and January 2020, Dr. Bee billed Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for medical services he did not perform. As a result, Dr. Bee fraudulently received payments from insurers totaling at least $195,170.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General led the investigation with assistance from the Illinois Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Illinois State Police, the FBI, the Department of Labor, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Defense and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois.