ROSWELL, Ga. -- An Atlanta doctor has been sentenced to 50 months in prison for defrauding Medicare and the IRS.

Lawrence Eppelbaum, 54, of Roswell must also pay a $3.5 million fine after being convicted of 27 counts of healthcare fraud, tax fraud and money laundering.

Eppelbaum operated the Atlanta Institute of Medicine and Rehabilitation (AIMR) and the Pain Clinic of AIMR. In 2004, he created a program called the Back Pain Fund, which transported patients between his Buckhead clinic and a hot spring in Florida. Despite labeling the fund a charity, Eppelbaum paid the vast majority of its operating expenses.

According to information presented in federal court, Eppelbaum entered into an arrangement with the Torah Day School in northeast Atlanta, where the parents of students would make their tuition checks payable to the Back Pain Fund instead of the school. In return, Eppelbaum repaid the school for the amount of the tuition plus 25 percent.

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga -- A serial robber isn't making it hard for police to tie all of his robberies together. So far police believe the suspect has robbed seven gas stations or drug stores since December 10, 2013.

Five different police agencies have tied the cases together from surveillance video and descriptions from victims and witnesses in the seven robberies.

He walks into the stores and demands money from the clerk and then walks out with only a handful of cash. Police said he is rarely violent. In one robbery he knocked over a display case when the clerk didn't comply with his demands.

ROME, Ga. -- A metro Atlanta man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to sell machines to Iran in violation of a U.S. trade embargo.

Mark Mason Alexander, 53, of Roswell was sentenced Monday. He will spend three years on supervised release after getting out of prison.

According to information presented in court, Alexander, also known as Musa Mahmood Ahmed, was CEO of Hydrajet Mena, a company based in the United Arab Emirates.

Between October 2006 and June 2008, Alexander conspired with two Iranian businessmen to sell Hydrajet cutting systems to customers in Iran, in direct violation of the United States' trade embargo against the country.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said an investigation revealed the machines were manufactured in Dalton. Alexander reportedly had the machines trans-shipped to Iran via his company in the United Arab Emirates.