Operation Snake Oil Pill Mill Doctor Sentenced
MIAMI - Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), Miami Field Division; Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, announce that Dr. Scott Becker, 54, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, was sentenced yesterday to 70 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Dr. Becker previously pled guilty to conspiring to distribute and dispense large amounts of oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Dr. Becker also pled guilty to money laundering.
According to court documents, Becker agreed to forfeit $470,400 in money and property representing the illegal narcotics proceeds he earned as a result of his involvement as a physician at All Pain Management in Dania Beach. Between February 16 and September 17, 2010, Becker was employed as a clinic doctor at All Pain Management which, at the time, was owned by co-conspirators Vincent Colangelo and several other unnamed individuals. Colangelo pled guilty to narcotics, money laundering and federal income tax offenses on April 2, 2012, arising from his ownership of six pill mill clinics and a pharmacy in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. According to a review of medical records, while at All Pain Management, Becker prescribed 932,259 oxycodone, 30 milligram pills during the course of 4,821 patient visits and more than 98% of Becker’s patients received prescriptions for oxycodone. Becker also laundered approximately $24,142 in illegal narcotics proceeds.
