Suburban Detroit Doctor Pleads Guilty To Unlawful Distribution Of Prescription Pills
DETROIT - Acting United States Attorney Daniel L. Lemisch announced that a physician who practiced in Oak Park, Michigan, pled guilty on August 16th, 2017, to writing prescriptions for oxycodone without medical justification.
Lemisch was joined in the announcement by Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA), and Manny Muriel, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Jennifer Franklin, 40, of Harrison Township, entered the guilty plea before U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh.
As part of the plea agreement, Franklin, admitted that between the 2013 and April 2015, she conspired with Boris Zigmond, to prescribe medically unnecessary oxycodone. Franklin acknowledged that she earned approximately $200,000 from the scheme to distribute oxycodone. She also acknowledged that the street value of the oxycodone she prescribed without justification exceeded $2 million.
Boris Zigmond, Dr. Carlos Godoy, and six other codefendants have previously pled guilty for their roles in the conspiracy.
DEA’s Plancon stated, “The medical field is one of the most noble careers anyone can enter. This is why DEA, through regulation and enforcement, will continue to work with the medical community to identify, investigate, and prosecute licensed physicians and their co-conspirators who use the medical profession to conceal the unlawful diversion and distribution of prescription drugs.”
"More people die from overdoses of prescription drugs in America than from overdoses of all other drugs combined,” Lemisch said. “We hope that prosecuting the doctors who are putting these drugs on the streets will deter others from contributing to this epidemic.”
As part of their plea agreements, Zigmond, Franklin, and Godoy could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 18, 2017.
