DENVER - A Canfield foot doctor will not spend any time in prison after being convicted of health care fraud.

During a hearing on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver, a judge placed Dr. Anthony Innocenzi on probation for five years and ordered him to make restitution in the amount of $51,313.

Innocenzi, who has a foot care practice in Colorado and an office on Tippecanoe Road in Canfield, pleaded guilty in February to a single count of  health care fraud.

The Assistant U.S. Attorney says that the 45-year-old podiatrist billed Medicare for treating patients at two offices in Colorado. However, the government said that the treatment was not actually administered in the offices, but at nursing homes in Grand Junction and Trinidad, Colorado.

Prosecutors say Dr. Innocenzi was able to collect larger reimbursements from the government by claiming that the treatment took place in an office because Medicare compensates providers who administer treatment in offices at higher rates to cover costs such as rent, utilities and insurance premiums.

According to a bill of information, the Grand Junction nursing home where Innocenzi claimed to have an office, was really only a storage room/beauty salon where he was allowed to perform podiatry services rent free for three months.

Dr. Innocenzi is being ordered to repay the money in monthly installments calculated as at least ten percent of his monthly income. According to court records, no fine was imposed because Dr. Innocenzi has no ability to pay.

As conditions of his probation, Innocenzi is prohibited from incurring new credit charges or opening additional lines of credit without permission from his probation officer.

Dr. Innocenzi, who according to Ohio medical records is a resident of Boardman, has no record of disciplinary actions filed against him by medical boards in Ohio or Colorado where he is licensed to practice.