Another Defendant Pleads Guilty in Pill Mill Operation in Broward and Palm Beach Counties

Twenty-Eight of 32 Operation Oxy Alley Defendants Have Pled Guilty

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division; and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announced the guilty plea of yet another defendant on charges stemming from Operation Oxy Alley, a coordinated investigation into pill mills in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

Today, Steven Goodman, 67, of St. Petersburg, Florida, pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James M. Hopkins to a one-count superseding information, filed on March 28, 2012, charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Sentencing is scheduled for August 27, 2012. With Goodman’s guilty plea today, 28 of the 32 defendants named in the indictment have pleaded guilty, including clinic owners Christopher and Jeffrey George. Twenty-seven defendants have already been sentenced.

The original indictment charged defendants Christopher and Jeffrey George, twin brothers who operated four pain management clinics in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and others involved in the operation of pill mills. According to the indictment and statements made in court, from 2008 to early 2010, these pill mills distributed approximately 20 million oxycodone pills and made more than $40 million from the illegal sales of controlled substances. Thirteen of the 32 defendants were doctors.

Goodman is a pharmaceutical wholesaler who owned and operated Medical Arts Pharmacy, Inc., in St. Petersburg, Florida. According to the superseding information and the documents filed in court today, Goodman conspired to defraud and deceive the DEA. To execute the scheme, Goodman shipped large quantities of controlled substances to clinics owned and operated by the George brothers without first conducting due diligence activities as required by federal law.

The investigation and prosecution was the result of work by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The FBI, DEA, and IRS-CID were assisted by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Hollywood Police Department, the Boca Raton Police Department, and the Davie Police Department. Coordination efforts also included cooperation by the Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office, Delray Beach Police Department, Jupiter Police Department, West Palm Beach Police Department, Boynton Beach Police Department, Medley Police Department, Homestead Police Department, North Miami Beach Police Department, and Sunny Isles Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul F. Schwartz, Lawrence D. LaVecchio, and Strider Dickson.