The Justice Department is indicting six people who allegedly ran a $2.6 million opioid ring, including two doctors.
A Justice Department press release alleges that two doctors and three people who ran three pain clinics conspired to illegally distribute more than 500,000 opioid pills valued at more than $2.6 million.
Dr Juan Bayolo, 48; Dr. Renee González García, 62; Angelo Foster, 33; Brandy King, 33; Latrina Williams, 45; and Edward King, 33, are being charged with drug conspiracy involving Schedule II controlled substances, including “Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Oxycodone-Acetaminophen (Percocet), and Hydrocodone (Norco).”
According to the DOJ press release, Foster, Edward King and Brandy King were operating multiple pain clinics in the Detroit area.
At pain clinics, people like Williams were “patient recruiters” who then saw Drs. Bayolo and Garcia via telehealth, according to the DOJ.
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Oxycodone 5 mg pills. At least half a dozen companies that make or distribute prescription opioid pain relievers are facing a federal criminal investigation for their role in a national addiction and overdose crisis.
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
The officials allege that doctors were paid to illegally prescribe opioid drugs “without a physical examination, for patients who did not have a legitimate medical need for the drugs.”
An indictment alleges that members of the conspiracy received cash in exchange for playing a role in issuing prescriptions for controlled substances.
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The FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
(AP Photo/José Luis Magaña, File)
Drs. Bayolo and Garcia, along with “other medical professionals,” are accused of prescribing more than 500,000 dosage units of Schedule II controlled substances.
The Department of Justice claims that a “conservative street value” of the controlled substances is more than $2.6 million.
James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said the suspects will be brought to justice.
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Opioid-based hydrocodone tablets displayed in a pharmacy in Portsmouth, Ohio on June 21, 2017.
(Reuters/Bryan Woolston/File Photo)
“When medical professionals and others plan to illegally provide medically unnecessary prescription drugs, they put patients at risk and increase the cost of healthcare for everyone,” said Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office.
Tarasca added: “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate this type of health care fraud scheme and will bring those who operate these criminal schemes to justice.”
