Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Doctors Arrested in Tampa Pill Mill Crackdown!

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

Just like the last blog entry that dealt with doctors, this entry details two more docs that have been arrested during these pillmill crackdowns...

TAMPA — They set up shop in Hillsborough County, prescribing pain pills until deputies shut them down in March.

Within weeks, JW Wellness, the pain clinic that had previously been shut down, sprouted just blocks away in a new jurisdiction. Tampa police noticed.

Undercover officers posed as patients who didn't need pills but wanted them. They brought MRIs the officers say were obviously fraudulent. And they got enough evidence to execute a search warrant back in August, confiscating 79 patient files.

The arrests came soon after.

The clinic's owner, a man, 37, was led from his Tampa house in handcuffs. In nearby Thonotosassa, a doctor practicing at another clinic was arrested in connection with his work at JW Wellness in Tampa.

That doctor, a man, 59, of Oldsmar is licensed and has not been previously arrested in Florida, records show.

In all, eight people connected to JW Wellness were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Seven of them were also charged with racketeering and conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance.

A Tampa Assistant Chief said the investigation took months because authorities have to prove a doctor prescribed the oxycodone and Xanax pills unnecessarily. It's not like arresting people selling cocaine or heroin, he said, which are illegal in all cases.

Meanwhile, authorities searched two other clinics in Hillsborough.

State officials took records from Main Street Medical in Thonotosassa, where the elder doctor was working.

At Busch Pain Clinic in Tampa, police also arrested a male doctor, 75, of Land O'Lakes. They charged him with writing a prescription for a controlled substance through deception, untruthfulness or fraud.

This most recent roundup comes a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the nation's doctors prescribed enough addictive painkillers last year to medicate every American adult around the clock for a month.

The report said addictive narcotic medications such as OxyContin and Vicodin are responsible for nearly 15,000 deaths a year, more than cocaine and heroin combined.

In a news release, the Florida state Attorney General thanked Hillsborough and state authorities for their investigations.

"Today's arrests should send a clear message that prescription drug trafficking in Florida will not be tolerated," she said.

Have you or a loved one been arrested for possession of a controlled substance or drug trafficking? Then contact the Clearwater criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced Clearwater criminal defense lawyers,please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.