Federal agents Tuesday arrested about 30 doctors, nurses and healthcare operators in Miami, Detroit and New York on charges of submitting more than $61 million in bogus bills to the taxpayer-funded Medicare program.

Among those arrested in South Florida: Dr. Fred E. Dweck of Hollywood, who was the medical director for a Miami healthcare clinic, Courtesy Medical Group.

Dweck, 74, arrested at his home early Tuesday by FBI and Health and Human Services agents, is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for writing prescriptions for about 1,300 homebound patients who didn't need costly diabetic, physical therapy and other services billed to Medicare, according to federal authorities. The total billing to Medicare: almost $41 million between 2006 and 2009. The federal healthcare program paid out nearly $24 million.

Also arrested: the owners of Courtesy Medical Group, Yudel Cayro and Arturo Fonseca, both of Miami-Dade. FBI and HHS agents raided their healthcare clinic at 1918 SW 57th Ave., carting away boxes of records along with computers, authorities said.

Dweck, Cayro and Fonseca were among a group of people indicted by a Miami grand jury Thursday on charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Also indicted were Arturo Fonseca; Isis Torres, R.N.; Franciso Portillo, R.N.; Armando Sanchez, R.N.; Lissbet Diaz; Marlenys Fernandez; Sheillah Rotta, R.N.; Alain Fernandez; Eduardo Romero; Antonio Ochoa; Teresita Leal, R.N.; Silvio Ruiz, R.N.; and William Madrigal.

In a separate indictment revealed Tuesday, three Miami-Dade residents and one Broward County resident were charged in connection with an alleged $5.8 million Medicare fraud scheme involving an HIV infusion clinic.

The four defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud through Tendercare Medical Center, a purported Miami-area HIV infusion clinic. The defendants in that case are David Marrero, Maria Volero Marrero, Keith Ernest Humes and Lawrence Edward Humes.

The indictments represented yet another Justice Department crackdown on Miami, dubbed the nation's Medicare fraud capital.

``But no matter what type of Medicare fraud is committed or where, there is one common denominator -- greed,'' Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal devision, said at a news conference in New York.

``These people rob Medicare of precious dollars by fraudulently billing for services neither rendered nor needed,'' he said. ``And when someone sends fraudulent bills to Medicare, they are stealing American taxpayer dollars that are intended to help those most in need.''

Breuer was joined by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to spotlight the arrests and to announce the expansion of a federal Medicare fraud strike force to Tampa, Brooklyn and Baton Rouge.

The strike force, launched in Miami in March 2007, also operates in Los Angeles, Detroit and Houston -- other major metropolitan areas plagued by phony Medicare claims for medical equipment, HIV infusion services, physical therapy and home healthcare.

Since 2007, Justice Department prosecutors with the strike force have filed criminal charges against more than 460 defendants involving more than $1 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims in Miami and four other cities, records show.

But South Florida, especially Miami-Dade, is at the root of the crisis. The U.S. attorney's office in Miami, coupled with the strike force, has prosecuted more than 900 defendants charged with submitting more than $2.5 billion in phony Medicare claims since 2005, according to records.