Bob Alick, of Second Source Medical, has been charged with multiple counts of wire and mail fraud in regard to bounced checks and other alleged schemes to defraud sellers of used medical equipment. The 14-count indictment is the result of a two-year investigation by the Cleveland office of the FBI that first came to light in DOTmed.com forum discussions in which customers warned other customers of Alick's perfidy.

"Be careful dealing with Second Source Medical [and] Bob Alick..." alerted Mark Noffke, of Medical Equipment Corporation, on April 12, 2005 in a DOTmed Honest/Dishonest Forum posting. "In February '05 their company check for equipment bounced. They've been very evasive about making repayment." A Forum post reply by Pete Schliebner, of Benchmark Imaging, warned sellers of used medical equipment that Alick's company, Second Source "is really ECT Medical, a company with a very bad reputation that has also done business under the name of Diversified Medical." The Ohio company, according to postings, simply shut down and reopened using the Second Source name, routing its phone calls through Denver to hide its identity.

Mail fraud is defined as a scheme to defraud which use the United States mail. "The United States Attorney's Office," according to John Teakell a criminal and securities lawyer who has handled thousands of cases in both the federal and state court systems, "will seek an indictment for mail fraud when the prosecution believes it has evidence of a fraud scheme that used the mail to make the fraud scheme function." An indictment on wire fraud charges will be filed when the U.S. Attorney's Office believes that interstate wire communications are involved in the scheme. Interstate wire communications can include wire transfers of funds to and from a financial institution, e-mail communications, fax transmissions, and radio and TV communications used in the perpetration of fraud.
Under Federal law, Alick can receive up to 20 years in prison for each charge of mail fraud, and 3 years in prison for each charge of wire fraud. Alick also faces a potential fine of over $250,000.

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