DALLAS (KRLD) - Federal authorities have filed charges against 41 people accused of running the scam, including doctors, clinics and pharmacy owners, pharmacists as well and drug dealers. The DEA also executed 36 warrants and nine suspension orders for prescribing authority.
Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski says "today's charges in total involve over 23 million pills of oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol. The equivalent of an opioid dose for every single adult living in the state of Texas."
He has a message for pharmacists and doctors who do this. "You may think you're invisible, but you are not. The data in our possession allows us to see you and see you clearly, no matter where you are. If you behave like a drug dealer, we're going to find you and treat you like a drug dealer."
US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Ryan Patrick explains how the "pills mills" worked. "The doctor visits are typically very perfunctory, and it's a typical cash and carry business. You pay your cash for the prescription and then you go to a pharmacy that is usually all part of the same network."
Prosecutors say sometimes the drugs were trafficked from Houston to Boston. They also announced the creation of a new Heath care fraud Strike Force which will expand into the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio.
