DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
45 Results - Showing 21 to 30
PRESS RELEASE

Suburban Chicago Woman Sentenced to 1 Year for Writing Fraudulent Opioid Prescriptions

CHICAGO - Robert Bell, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Division, and U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr., of the Northern District of Illinois today announced that an administrative assistant at a suburban Chicago medical practice has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for...
PRESS RELEASE

Bowie Maryland Nurse Practitioner Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Dispense Oxycodone

Greenbelt, Md., – Justina Aburime, age 53, of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone and one count of distribution and dispensing of oxycodone. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division; United...
PRESS RELEASE

Maryland Nurse Practitioner Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Dispense Oxycodone

Greenbelt, Md., – Justina Aburime, age 53, of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone and one count of distribution and dispensing of oxycodone. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division; United...
PRESS RELEASE

Pain Clinic Doctor and Staff Member Charged with Unlawful Distribution of Opioids

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Dr. Qing McGaha (55, Tampa) with conspiracy to commit unlawful distribution of controlled substances and unlawful distribution of controlled substances for no legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, as...
PRESS RELEASE

Operators of Three Texas Pharmacies and Two Pain Clinics Arrested for Illegally Dispensing Nearly Four Million Opioid Pills

WASHINGTON – Three Houston-area pharmacists, a doctor, and a pharmacy technician have been arrested for allegedly running three pharmacies and two clinics as “pill mills;” distributing hydrocodone, oxycodone, and other controlled drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. According to court documents, since January 2018, Chrisco Pharmacy (Chrisco), Keystone Pharmacy (Keystone)...
PRESS RELEASE

Former Long Island Doctor Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison for Causing the Overdose Deaths of Two patients and Illegally Distributing Oxycodone

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Michael Belfiore, a former medical doctor, was sentenced by United States Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco to 23 years in prison for the illegal distribution of oxycodone causing the deaths of two patients and the illegal distribution of...
PRESS RELEASE

Naples Doctor Who Operated a Pill Mill Sentenced to Three Years in Federal Prison

FORT MYERS, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Gerald Michael Abraham, 76, of Naples, Florida. to three years in federal prison for dispensing controlled substances (oxycodone and amphetamine) for no legitimate medical purpose. The court also ordered Abraham to forfeit the following items to the United...
PRESS RELEASE

Pharmacist Found Guilty of Illegally Dispensing and Distributing Controlled Substances

ATLANTA - Thomas Ukoshovbera A. Gbenedio has been convicted by a federal jury of illegally dispensing and distributing controlled substances from his pharmacy. “Removing and ultimately eliminating healthcare providers who unlawfully dispense pharmaceutical products for non-medical reasons is an important part of DEA’s mission,” said Special Agent in Charge of...
PRESS RELEASE

Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Unlawfully Distributing Opioids at His Pain Management Clinic

MIAMI – A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawfully distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami, Florida. According to court documents, Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned a cash-only pain management clinic in Miami, Florida named General Care Center, Inc. At General Care Center, Palacios paid...
PRESS RELEASE

Long Island Doctor Convicted of Illegal Distribution of Oxycodone

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - A federal jury in Central Islip returned a guilty verdict this afternoon against Frank Parasmo, a medical doctor with an office in Deer Park, on 31 counts of unlawfully distributing oxycodone, a highly addictive prescription painkiller, and one count of unlawfully distributing hydrocodone, all without a...