UPDATE: Elkhart police: Man, woman found dead inside Gabriele Eye Institute

By SUE LOWE and TOM MOOR, Tribune Staff Report

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Gabriele Eye Institute

A man and a woman were found dead at Gabriele Eye Institute at 2216 Cassopolis Street in Elkhart on Monday, June 15, 2009. (WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Jun 15, 2009 at 8:59 AM EST

Story Updated: Jun 15, 2009 at 6:45 PM EST

ELKHART — Police are confirming a man and a woman have been found dead inside Gabriele Eye Institute at 2216 Cassopolis St., but whether they are ophthalmologist Philip J. Gabriele, 44, and his wife Marcella Gabriele has not been confirmed.

Police responded to a call at 9:16 a.m. today that shots were fired inside the building. When an officer arrived on the scene, he also heard a gunshot, according to Lt. Ed Windbigler of Elkhart police.

Officers then went inside the building and found a man and a woman dead, both of apparent gunshot wounds, Windbigler said. No one else was inside the building at the time, according to police. The coroner is on his way to the facility. Windbigler said the identities of the victims won’t be released until family members have been notified.

Philip and Marcella Gabriele, both of Granger, were indicted by a federal grand jury on suspicion of health care fraud, wire fraud and criminal conspiracy charges, prosecutors announced Friday.

Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill was on the scene, talking to police officers, at 11 a.m. today.

Two other offices of the Gabriele Eye Institute, one at 2042 E. Ireland Road, South Bend, and the other at 3730 Edison Lakes Parkway, Mishawaka, are empty this morning with no office hours posted or mentioned on office voice mails.

The part of the building housing Gabriele Eye Institute, which is on the south end of the office building that also houses Malibu Tanning and Rx Optional, is surrounded by police tape.

Windbigler said people were inside the two businesses next to the Gabriele business, but no one said if they heard anything. He also said he didn’t know whether Gabriele’s business was open for business this morning.

Kari Sheffer, 21, who said she’s been employed for two months at Malibu Tanning, said she arrived for work at 8:45 a.m. today because the business normally opens at 9 a.m. "We didn’t hear anything," she said of herself and a co-worker. But when they walked out of the building , she said, "cops screamed ‘Get back.’ So we went back inside."

Two customers were at the tanning salon at the time, Sheffer said.

Landscaper John Johnson, of Niles, arrived at the Gabrieles’ Elkhart office this morning to pick up a check for work he had done for them, he told The Tribune. He did landscaping for them for the past four or five years.

"I was shocked, stunned," Johnson said. "He (Philip Gabriele) was always a nice guy. He was quiet, but seemed honest."

On speculation the couple found dead inside could be the Gabrieles, Johnson said, "I never expected anything like this to happen."

Richard Doolittle, chief operating officer of Cressy & Everett Commercial in Edison Lakes, Mishawaka, called this morning’s news of the shootings "unbelievable."

"We were shocked at the raid (of the Gabrieles’ offices and home two years ago)," he said. At that time, Doolittle said, the Gabrieles were looking for space to expand, but decided to not pursue the expansion after the raid.

Philip Gabriele, Doolittle said, was "a valued member of the Edison Lakes community."

"They paid their dues and kept the building up," he said. "They appeared to be thriving."

Doolittle said the building housing the Gabriele Eye Institute in Edison Lakes was owned by someone else until about five years ago, when the Gabrieles bought it through Cressy & Everett.

The Gabrieles are accused of falsely and fraudulently diagnosing cataracts and other disorders in patients and performing unnecessary surgeries, according to a statement issued by assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Schmid.

The indictment alleges that, as part of the fraud scheme, the defendants altered patient charts and records after the fact, in an effort to make it seem as if diagnoses were accurate and correct, said Schmid, who declined to comment beyond his written statement.

Continue to check this Web site and read Tuesday’s South Bend Tribune for updates on this story.

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