United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered a Tampa-area pain management clinic to close and directed the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties pursuant to agreed resolutions in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department announced today. In...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A former Clackamas, Oregon dentist pleaded guilty today to illegally distributing controlled substances, including prescription drugs, and anabolic steroids. Salwan Wesam Adjaj, 43, a resident of West Linn, Oregon, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with distributing and possessing with intent to distribute controlled...

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A former veterinarian, who admitted to stealing opioids, was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison. Patrick Gries, 54, of Madison Heights, Virginia, pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one count of adulteration of a drug held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce and one...

NORFOLK, Va. – Hidenwood Pharmacy, Inc., located in Newport News, and its owner, Anne Hutchens, of Seaport, have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle civil penalty claims stemming from alleged record-keeping violations associated with controlled substances. The government alleged that the Hidenwood Pharmacy failed to comply with various recordkeeping requirements...

Baltimore, Maryland – Norman Rosen, age 84, of Towson, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone in connection with his operation of Rosen-Hoffberg Rehabilitation and Pain Management Associates, P.A., where he was Medical Director and part-owner. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent...

BOSTON – A West Barnstable woman was sentenced on June 15, 2022 in federal court in Boston in connection with stealing hydrocodone, an opioid and Schedule II controlled substance, from the veterinary office where she worked. Melissa Paradise, 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to...

ABINGDON, Va. – Sovah Health has agreed to pay the United States $4.36 million to settle claims that the hospital system violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on numerous occasions between 2017 and 2020. As part of the resolution, Sovah Health further agreed to be subject to a period of...

ABINGDON, Va. – The owner of a supplement company, that manufactured and shipped unapproved drugs and illegal steroids for use by members of the bodybuilding community, pled guilty this week to a pair of federal drug charges. John Franklin Cochcroft, 37, of Lexington, South Carolina, waived his right to be...

Baltimore, Md. - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett approved the United States’ consent decree with Ketan K. Dankhara, a Baltimore-based pharmacist, and Falls RX, LLC d/b/a Ultra Care Pharmacy Baltimore (“Ultra Care”), resolving the United States’ civil allegations that Dankhara and Ultra Care violated the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”)...