ATLANTA — The Department of Justice announced Monday two Atlanta licensed health professionals pled guilty to illegally prescribing drugs.
Prosecutors said the former Atlanta gynecologist and a licensed pharmacist have been running the “pill mill” since 2018. U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said with their plea, they are now admitted drug dealers who sold opioid pills on the black-market, according to a news release.
According to Buchanan, the gynecologist ran the illegal practice from his home.
Investigators said the gynecologist did not form a normal patient relationship with his sponsors. Instead, he prescribed pills to people he never met, including those who were dead. He would prescribe large amounts of drugs like Oxycodone. His patients would then get their prescriptions filled by the pharmacist.
The pharmacist would charge patients with inflated prices to fill the prescriptions, according to the DOJ, and he would go as far as to forge the original pricing of the pills on his computers to give the idea he sold them at market prices.
Attorneys said the pharmacist also pled guilty to money laundering after buying an airplane with the money earned from the operation.
“The dispensing of addictive prescription pain medication under the guise of a doctor’s care isn’t about the good of the community or an individual’s specific health needs—it’s about greed,” said Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s Atlanta Field Division.
Other pharmacists as sponsors also pleaded guilty to conspiring with the medical professionals.
“With opioid overdoses continuing to rise in Georgia, our office will continue to devote resources to prosecuting licensed professionals who fuel rather than help to stem the opioid epidemic," prosecutors said.
The DOJ said criminal charges are pending for eight more people involved in the operation.
The 56-year-old former gynecologist will appear in court for sentencing in 2023. The pharmacist does not have scheduled appearances for sentencing yet, according to the DOJ.