4 metro Detroit doctors charged in $41M opioid scheme

At a time when scores of doctors are fighting a pandemic, four suburban physicians have landed in federal court in Detroit, charged in a $41 million opioid scheme involving phony prescriptions, fake patients and nearly 2 million pain pills that wound up on the street.

This was all part of a plan to make money, authorities say, noting the doctors had plenty of help.

In a federal indictment unsealed Thursday, 19 people were charged with running a massive pain pill operation that prosecutors say involved four physicians, three pharmacists, two nurse practitioners, a clinic owner and several others. The 44-count indictment charged the defendants with running a drug conspiracy for three years, alleging they peddled nearly 2 million pills on the black market, including the highly-addictive Oxycodone and Oxymorphone, which alone carry a conservative street value of more than $41 million.

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“Prescription drugs are supposed to go to people who truly need them, not to fake patients or people selling drugs on the streets,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in announcing the indictment. “We are focusing on charging doctors, pharmacists, and the networks that add to the opioid crisis — and this case is unfortunately yet another example of the serious problem facing Michigan.”

Charged in the indictment are:

• Dr. Beth Carter, 56, Southfield
• Dr. Robert Kenewell, 52, Auburn Hills
• Dr. Jason Brunt, 50, Clawson
• Dr. John Swan, 30, St. Clair Shores
• Nurse practitioner Jean Pinkard, 63, Farmington Hills
• Nurse practitioner Toni Green, 58, St. Clair Shores
• Fitzgerald Hudson, 60, Southfield
• Clinic owner John Henry Rankin, III, 46, Detroit
• Pharmacy owner Virendra Gaidhane, 49, Troy
• Pharmacist Maksudali Saiyad, 65, Troy
• Pharmacist Adeniyi Adepoju, 61, Warren
• Pharmacist Ali Sabbagh, 36, Dearborn Heights
• Robert King, 38, Taylor
• Jermaine Hamblin, 36, Roseville
• Sonya Mitchell, 50, Southfield
• Lavar Carter, 56, Southfield
• Robert Lee Dower Jr., 49, Eastpointe
• Denise Sailes, 51, Detroit
• Dewayne Bason, 28, Detroit

Related: Michigan doctors tossed in jail for fueling opioid epidemic: They're 'killing us'

According to the indictment, the prescription drug ring ran from 2017 to this year out of New Vision Rehab and Preferred Rehab clinics, whose owner gave doctors cash and other illegal benefits to write prescriptions for “fake” patients with no legitimate need for the drugs.

The clinic owner also paid an unlicensed medical professional to pose as a doctor and issue pre-signed prescriptions in the names of other providers, the indictment states.

Related: Another casualty in the coronavirus pandemic: People who need drug rehab

According to federal prosecutors, the charged physicians prescribed more than 1.9 million doses of opioids, including Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Percocet and codeine-laced cough syrup.

The conspiracy also involved patient recruiters and pharmacists who knowingly filled prescriptions that were medically unnecessar and then billed insurers, including Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies. Sometimes, the indictment said, the pharmacists would take cash from the recruiters for filling the medications.

According to the indictment, these are the pharmacies that participated in the scheme:

• Detroit New Hope Pharmacy
• Synergy Pharmacy
• Nottingham Pharmacy
• Crownz Medical Pharmacy
• Franklin Healthmart

According to the indictment, the pharmacies dispensed more than 58,725 doses of opioids, a figure that both frustrates and angers federal authorities as they fight the ongoing problem of pain pill addiction in America.

“Today’s indictments are the result of health care professionals allegedly contributing to the devastating opioid crisis instead of working toward its solution," said Detroit's FBI chief, Steven M. D'Antunono. "The public expects and deserves more from them.”

Defense lawyers for the accused were not readily available for comment.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 4 metro Detroit doctors charged in $41M opioid scheme