A 76-year-old man was convicted Friday for the illegal distribution of more than 1.2 million opioid pills and other medication at “pill mill” clinics in the Houston, Texas, area.
Charles Thompson, who made at least $208,000 from the drug dealing scheme, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and eight counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances. He faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal district court judge Oct.
3, according to the Department of Justice.
A jury has also convicted James Pierre, a doctor who worked with Thompson at the Houston-area West Parker Medical Clinic, of unlawfully prescribing over 1 million opioid pills. As of Friday, six individuals have pleaded guilty in connection with their conduct at clinics associated with Thompson.
Evidence provided at Thompson’s trial showed that, between June 2015 and July 2017, he helped others illegally prescribe controlled substances – including a combination of the opioid hydrocodone and muscle relaxant carisoprodol known as a “Las Vegas Cocktail” – to thousands of people posing as patients at West Parker and another clinic called Priority Wellness Clinic.
“So-called “runners” brought numerous people to pose as patients at West Parker and paid the clinic approximately $220 to $500 in cash for each visit that resulted in prescriptions for dangerous drugs,” said the Justice Department. “Throughout the scheme, West Parker made approximately $1.75 million from prescriptions, from which Thompson was paid over $208,000.”
When West Parker closed, Thompson continued to help others illegally prescribe controlled substances at Priority Wellness, which opened in December 2016. Trial evidenced showed that both locations operated as pill mills.
“Runners brought people posing as patients to Priority Wellness and paid the clinic between $300 and $600, depending on whether the purported patient was getting a prescription for hydrocodone or oxycodone, almost always prescribed in combination with carisoprodol,” the Justice department said.
With that scheme, Priority Wellness made approximately $1.1 million and Thompson allegedly made between $700 and $900 per day in cash.
The Drug Enforcement Agency in Houston investigated the case.
For more than two decades, drug overdose deaths have been rising in the U.S. From March 2020 to March 2021, there were 96,779 drug overdose deaths reported in the country, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics – a 36.1% increase over the previous annual high from December 2018 to December 2019.
Opioids are a factor in more than 70% of overdose deaths in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Thursday announced $1.5 billion in funding for state opioid crisis response “to help address the Nation’s opioid addiction and overdose epidemic.”
“It’s time we treat addiction like any other disease,” said President Joe Biden of the epidemic last month. “And at the same time, we are disrupting drug traffickers’ financial networks, supply chains, and delivery routes, including on the internet.”
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