TAMPA, Fla. – On March 16, 2022, Dr. Zachary Bird (51, Tampa) was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, followed by 1 year of supervised release, for structuring cash transactions to evade bank reporting requirements. As part of his sentence, the Court also entered a money judgment in the...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment charging a pharmacist with one count of tampering with a consumer product, one count of possession of tramadol by deception and subterfuge, one count of possession of zolpidem by deception and subterfuge, and one count of...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Dr. Qing McGaha (55, Tampa) with conspiracy to commit unlawful distribution of controlled substances and unlawful distribution of controlled substances for no legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, as...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Nixa, Missouri, physician pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to making a false statement to Medicare to obtain insurance coverage for a fentanyl prescription and to conspiring with others to use his DEA registration number to issue Schedule II controlled substances to patients in his absence...

FORT MYERS, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Gerald Michael Abraham, 76, of Naples, Florida. to three years in federal prison for dispensing controlled substances (oxycodone and amphetamine) for no legitimate medical purpose. The court also ordered Abraham to forfeit the following items to the United...

MIAMI – A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawfully distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami, Florida. According to court documents, Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned a cash-only pain management clinic in Miami, Florida named General Care Center, Inc. At General Care Center, Palacios paid...

MIAMI - A federal court in Florida ordered a Tampa-area pharmacy shut down and prohibited two of its employees from ever owning, managing or operating any business where controlled substances are dispensed. Pursuant to an agreed consent judgment and permanent injunction filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Kansas returned an indictment charging an Overland Park, Kansas, man on two counts of tampering with a consumer product, one count of possession of fentanyl by deception and subterfuge, and one count of possession of hydromorphone by deception and subterfuge. According...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, returned an indictment charging a nurse from Kansas City, Missouri, with two counts of tampering with a consumer product and two counts of possession of fentanyl by deception and subterfuge. According to court documents, between January 2020 and...

ST. LOUIS – Olive Street Pharmacy, LLC, and pharmacy technician Irina Shlafshteyn, agreed to pay $1,507,808.50 to resolve a civil complaint bringing claims under the False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act related to the unlawful dispensing of controlled substances, including some that were submitted to Medicaid or Medicare for...