Based in part on the cooperation of former Lower Burrell chiropractor Douglas Henderson, the U.S. attorney's office won convictions of 15 other people in a $12 million healthcare fraud scheme.

Of course, noted U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster at the man's sentencing yesterday, those people wouldn't have been in trouble in the first place if it weren't for Mr. Henderson.

"I'm not particularly impressed by it, frankly," the judge said of Mr. Henderson's cooperation. "Mr. Henderson is the person who enticed those people into the scheme, then when he was caught, he turned on those very same people for some benefit to himself."

Judge Lancaster begrudgingly reduced Mr. Henderson's prison term at the government's request from the recommended 70 to 87 months down to four years.

But the judge said neither the cooperation nor the fact that Mr. Henderson has multiple sclerosis are enough to rebut the criminal scheme he led or his manipulation of his patients.

Mr. Henderson, who was diagnosed with MS in 1994, asked for a sentence that did not include prison, saying that he didn't think he deserved a punishment that would make his health problems worsen.

He pleaded guilty in April 2006 to healthcare fraud, conspiracy and income tax evasion.

According to the government, Mr. Henderson submitted false insurance claims from his business, Burrell Chiropractic Center, to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield totaling more than $20 million.

Many of those were not approved by the company, said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Y. Garrett, and the total loss associated with the case was $12.1 million.

Mr. Henderson was ordered to pay that amount in restitution.

As part of the scheme, prosecutors say he shared the proceeds from the insurance company with his patients who filed the false claims.

He apologized to Highmark, his patients and family.

"The cost of medical insurance has been staggering," he said. "Conduct like mine only adds to the burden."

During the hearing, Judge Lancaster asked the government if it had been able to trace the money Mr. Henderson received in the scheme that stretched from 1995 through 2002.

Mr. Garrett said investigators could not find it, other than an expensive vacation home Mr. Henderson built in Emlenton. Mr. Garrett said the house had been transferred into the name of Mr. Henderson's mother-in-law, and that he questioned the legality of that transaction.

"He lived very, very well, in a manner that was fueled by his cynical, abusive scheme," Mr. Garrett said. "It was essentially an industry -- a factory -- of ripoff."

Though the prosecutor filed a motion to reduce Mr. Henderson's sentence, Mr. Garrett emphasized what he called the "tremendous magnitude of the defendant's criminality."

When Highmark officials started to catch on to the problem -- and asked to review Mr. Henderson's records -- he and others concocted fake ones over a weekend, Mr. Garrett said.

Mr. Henderson was not taken into custody and will be permitted to self-report to prison.