Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal jury in the Southern District of Texas convicted a Texas physician yesterday for unlawfully distributing more than a million pills of opioids and other dangerous controlled substances.
“Medical physicians who exploit their prescribing authority for profit over patient care break an inherent trust with their patients and we will hold them accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “The Department of Justice remains committed to protecting the public from dangerous and unlawful distribution of controlled substances, especially when the drug dealer is a doctor.”
“Patients put their trust and their lives into the hands of our medical and health care professionals,” said DEA Assistant Administrator Cheri Oz. “The highly addictive, dangerous misused drugs in this case – oxycodone and hydrocodone – are meant to treat pain, not cause it. DEA remains relentless in our pursuit of those who poison our communities and exploit our health care system, all to line their own pockets with the profit from other’s pain.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Barbara Marino, M.D., 65, of Tomball, was the sole prescribing physician at Angels Clinica. From Angels Clinica, Marino prescribed the highly dangerous, addictive, and commonly abused opioids oxycodone and hydrocodone and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol. Marino prescribed these drugs from a clinic hiding in plain sight, behind mirrored windows, in a Houston strip mall:
Image of Clinic Where Marino Prescribed Drugs (Gov’t Trial Ex. No. 301)
Many of the patients who received prescriptions from Marino were brought to Angels Clinica by street-level drug dealers, often called “crew leaders” or “runners.” These crew leaders and runners brought patients to Marino for prescriptions, filled those prescriptions at Houston-area pharmacies, and then sold the pills on the street. Angels Clinica was a cash-only clinic, charging people based on what drug Marino would prescribe them. In less than a year, Marino received more than $400,000 from Angels Clinica’s owners for writing prescriptions that lacked a legitimate medical purpose and were outside the usual course of professional medical practice.
Marino’s prescribing exhibited many of the red flags of a pill mill, as published in the Texas State Board of Pharmacies “YOU MIGHT BE A PILL MILL IF…” checklist. The evidence at trial showed that Marino intentionally disregarded all the red flags and prescribed almost every patient she saw the dangerous combination of an opioid, like oxycodone or hydrocodone, and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol. More than 99% of the time, Marino prescribed only the strongest short-acting versions of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol.
Among Marino’s patients was a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy. Marino prescribed this pregnant patient the dangerous drug cocktail of hydrocodone and carisoprodol. The patient’s OB/GYN testified at trial about how dangerous that drug cocktail was for both the woman and her unborn child, and that the patient missed an important follow-up visit with the OB/GYN. As the prosecutor said in her closing arguments, this patient “didn’t go to her doctor, she went to her drug dealer.”
Another of Dr. Marino’s patients was a man who had been diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic. The patient’s mother testified that he often claimed to be former President Richard Nixon. Nonetheless, Dr. Marino prescribed him the hydrocodone and soma cocktail at least three times.
The jury convicted Marino of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and four counts of distributing a controlled substance. Marino faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
DEA investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Drew Pennebaker and Yael Mash of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the Texas Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are prosecuting the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.