Twice-convicted Minnesota chiropractor stole again says board

WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. -- An east metro chiropractor, twice convicted of fraud, had his license revoked again based on renewed allegations of swindles.

Randy Miland is accused of bilking patients and other would-be investors out of tens of thousands of dollars over the last two years while he worked at a clinic in White Bear Lake, according to the Minnesota Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which revoked Miland’s license in April after a months-long investigation.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s office, which participated in the board’s review and presentation of the allegations, says it has referred the matter to local “criminal authorities,” though no new charges have been filed.

The reinstatement of Miland’s license in 2011 prompted outcry from victims of his earlier scams, which date back to the 1990s, who said they hadn’t been repaid and wanted restitution to be a special licensing requirement. But the board of chiropractors said that it lacked authority to implement such a requirement and that there was a mutual expectation that Miland would be able to make the payments once he got his license and began working again.

The board did include a condition that barred Miland from engaging in personal or business relationships with patients or their families.

In a 2013 interview with the Pioneer Press, Miland said he accepted responsibility for his actions and intended to repay victims once he got back on his feet.

New allegations

But the board of chiropractors’ investigation, detailed in an April 16 revocation order, shows that instead of paying back old debts, Miland racked up new ones. Because the alleged activities involved patients, Miland violated conditions of his license, the board said.

The victims who were upset when he got his license back are ringing alarm bells again, concerned that Miland may be trying to dodge responsibility to repay those who fell for his scams.

Less than two weeks after the board presented its findings and revoked his license, Miland filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, seeking to have his debts discharged without a repayment plan. His list of unsecured creditors includes several past victims, as well as the IRS, the Minnesota Department of Revenue and the federal courts.

According to his bankruptcy documents, he’s been working in “produce sales” at a Target in Edina for 10 months, making less than $9 an hour.

Miland could not be reached for this story. Court records show he lives in White Bear Lake.

Claims sound familiar

The board’s inquiry into Miland’s dealings began after it got a tip in August.

His license to practice as a chiropractor had been suspended in October, but another tip in January prompted a full-scale investigation, which led the board to revoke his license.

According to the board’s April 16 revocation order, Miland “was engaged in financial swindling of patients” and reportedly received as much as $89,000 from four patients in 2013 and 2014 - including $50,000 from a now-former girlfriend - purportedly for investments that would yield returns. Only $18,000 appears to have been repaid to one of the would-be investors, the board said.

The board also said Miland received more than $383,000 from four unnamed victims, of which he repaid about $125,000.

If true, the alleged investment scheme is a familiar one.

In 1999 Miland was convicted of five counts of theft by swindle in Washington County District Court. Miland, practicing at a Woodbury clinic at the time, told victims they would get high returns on money they gave him and falsely said he had an investment deal with Blockbuster Entertainment Inc.

According to court records, Miland owed his victims a total of $1.54 million. He repaid about $30,000, with his last payment recorded by the courts in March 2005. Court administrators wrote off the restitution orders as uncollectable.

He was sentenced to about 4 years in prison but served less than a year before he was released so he could participate in Minnesota’s Challenge Incarceration Program, an 18-month intense supervised-release program. His probation ended in 2004.

In 2006, Miland was charged in federal court with wire fraud for a real estate investment scheme; he was convicted and sentenced in 2007. The restitution amount was about $256,000, court records show. In April 2013 the court issued a “notice of final accounting of garnishment” showing that Miland had repaid about $131,000, which included a one-time payment of $117,000 in 2011. Records show no changes since then.

Second bankruptcy

After his 2009 release from federal prison, Miland sought to renew his chiropractor’s license, which he was first granted in 1979. The board agreed to a conditional reinstatement in 2011.

Former victims, who had not been repaid the thousands Miland stole in his previous Ponzi schemes, were furious and pleaded with the board to either revoke the license or make restitution a requirement. The Minnesota Attorney General’s office in 2013 asked the board to reconsider terms of Miland’s license, but the board stood by its decision.

Following Miland’s April revocation, the state Attorney General’s office, which does not handle criminal prosecutions, turned the case over to law enforcement.

“We were very concerned and have already made some phone calls to refer the matter,” said Ben Wogsland, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. “We have alerted the criminal authorities to these new allegations.”

Miland previously filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1995. He was granted a discharge, later revoked after the trustee filed a complaint. The case was reopened in 2000 and closed in 2003 with no debt discharged.

What he owes

As part of Miland’s new bankruptcy case, he claims more than $1 million in liabilities that he is seeking to have discharged, including more than $600,000 owed to victims of his earlier scams and more than $425,000 owed in taxes and court restitution.

In a Chapter 7 case, all of a debtor’s assets can be liquidated to repay creditors and liabilities. Miland claims assets of $16,000, including a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C300 sedan and a few pieces of furniture.

“If there’s nothing that the trustee can come up with, no other assets, then the debts do get discharged; they go away and the creditors do not get paid,” said attorney Mary Jo Jensen-Carter of the White Bear Lake firm Buckley & Jensen, who has been assigned as a trustee in Miland’s case.

If there appears to be fraud, some debts may not be discharged, Jensen-Carter said.

A meeting of the creditors is scheduled for May 19.

Miland’s bankruptcy attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

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