A federal grand jury in Cleveland has indicted three physicians and nine other people for allegedly running a multistate Internet painkiller pill mill, the Department of Justice announced.
Terence Sasaki, MD, 37, of Jersey City, NJ; Edward Cheslow, 50, of New York City; Dora Fernandez, MD, 35, of Ponce, PR; and their accomplices were indicted on 37 criminal counts, including drug trafficking, conspiracy, money laundering, and continuing a criminal enterprise, the Department of Justice announced.
Prosecutors allege the defendants used two companies—USMeds, LLC, in Cumming, GA, and Brennan & DePaoli, Inc., dba, Delta Health, in Jacksonville, FL—to sell hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers—primarily hydrocodone products, such as Vicodin and Lortab, and anti-anxiety alprazolam products, such as Xanax illegally, over the Internet to customers across the country, DOJ said.
The Internet customers allegedly selected the type, strength, and quantity of the drug they wanted, and the defendants conducted a brief telephone "consultation" and approved the orders. The defendants either shipped the drugs directly to the customers, or sent them a prescription to fill at a local pharmacy not associated with the drug traffickers, DOJ said.
Customers were charged greatly inflated prices (eight to 10 times retail) when the drugs were shipped to them, and they were charged an inflated "consultation" price when the defendants wrote the paper prescriptions, DOJ said.
Other defendants were identified as: James Hazelwood, 39, of Cumming, GA, described by prosecutors as the alleged ringleader in the operation; Julie Toennies, 36, of St. Louis; Audrey Barbara Rovedo, 61, of Jacksonville, FL; Vinesh Darji, 39, of Tampa; Bruce Liddy, 53, of Lakeland, FL; Helen Kann, 50, of Atlanta; Jennifer Ryan, 32, of Cumming, GA; Diego Fiorillo, 33, of Metairie, LA; and Stephen Derks, 41, of Marietta, GA.
USMeds, LLC, is Hazelwood's company. Delta Health is owned by Rovedo, DOJ said.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.