Woman involved in 2011 medical bill collection probe now in Collier jail

Photo by CCSO

Blanchi Dugatkin

EAST NAPLES — The case of a Las Vegas woman implicated in a fraudulent scheme to collect medical debt in Collier County took another twist Friday.

Blanchi Dugatkin, who goes by several aliases, turned herself into Collier deputies after a warrant was issued for her arrest, records show.

The 55-year-old will face four felony charges of aggravated white collar crime, grand theft, scheme to defraud and practicing law without a license.

No details were immediately available Saturday on whether Dugatkin's arrest was related to a bill collection investigation by the Collier County Sheriff's Office, which the Daily News reported on more than two years ago.

When bill collectors Dugatkin and her husband took patients to small claims court over the bills, a judge tossed out about 120 of the cases in 2011 because the pair — and the company they were supposedly collecting for, Anesthesia Associates — hadn't complied with legal rules.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Florida fined Dugatkin — whom it lists with 11 aliases — and her husband, roughly $10,500 for the unlicensed practice of law, records show.

Dugatkin remained in the Collier County jail on Saturday with bond set at $32,500.