Pill Mill-Vercauteren Indictment

8/9/2019 Pill Mill-Vercauteren Indictment

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VERCAUTEREN has employed a number of different prescribers, both doctors and nurse

practitioners.

3.

Prior to MPC Wellness, VERCAUTEREN operated other pill mill clinics,

including Simple Spine.

4. VERCAUTEREN also regularly worked with CO-CONSPIRATOR 1 to purchase

bulk quantities of oxycodone from PHARMACIST 1 for re-sale.

5. Members of the conspiracy acted as distributors, who brought a number of

runners to the clinics. A runner is an individual who is recruited by a distributor to enter pill

mill clinics with fictitious complaints of pain in order to obtain prescriptions for Schedule

I I

controlled substances, primarily oxycodone. Runners typically then filled the prescription and

gave the oxycodone tablets they received to the distributor. Runners were typically paid in either

cash or oxycodone tablets for their services. The distributors then generally sold the pills for a

profit.

Controlled Su bstances — General Terminology

6.

The Controlled Substances Act governs the manufacture, distribution, and

dispensing of controlled substances in the United States, including narcotics that are p rescribed by

physicians and other licensed health care providers. The Controlled Substances Act and its

implementing regulations set forth which drugs and other substances are controlled substances.

Controlled substances are assigned to one of five schedules, Schedule I, II, III, IV, or V, depending

on their potential for abuse, likelihood o f physical or psychological dependency, accepted medical

use, and accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

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7. Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1), provides that [e]xcept as

authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally

. . . manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or

dispense, a controlled substance.

8.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(10), provides that the term dispense

meant to deliver a controlled substance to an ultimate user .. . by, or pursuant to the lawful order

of, a practitioner, including the prescribing and administering of a controlled substance and the

packaging, labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for such delivery.

9.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(11), provides that the term distribute

means to deliver (other than by administering or dispensing) a controlled substance or a listed

chemical.

10.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(21) provides that the term practitioner

means a physician . . . or other person licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted . . . to

distribute [or] dispense . . . a controlled substance in the course of professional practice.

11. Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1306.04, provides, among other

things, that a prescription for a controlled substance is valid if it is prescribed for a legitimate

medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of his professional

practice. Moreover, an order purporting to be a prescription issued not in the usual course of

professional treatment or in legitimate and authorized research is not a valid prescription within

the meaning and intent of Title 21, United States Code, Section 829, and the person knowingly

issuing it shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations of the law relating to controlled

substances.

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12. The DEA issues registration numbers to qualifying practitioners, who are

authorized to dispense Schedule II, III, IV, or V controlled substances. A practitioner must be in

compliance with all state laws regarding the practice of medicine and the prescribing of medicine

in order to receive and maintain a DEA registration number.

13. The term Schedule II means that the drug or other substance has a high potential

for abuse, the drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the

United States or a currently accepted medical use w ith severe restrictions, and abuse of the drug or

other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

14.

Oxycodone is a narcotic, opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine and is

classified as a Schedule II controlled substance. It is sold in generic form and under brand names

including Oxycontin, Percocet, Roxicodone, Roxicet, and Endocet. When legally prescribed for

a legitimate medical purpose, oxycodone is used to treat moderate to severe pain. However, even

if prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose and even if taken in the prescribed amounts,

oxycodone can cause physical and psychological dependence.

15. The discipline of pain management is an accepted and recognized medical

sub-specialty practiced by physicians throughout the United States. Legitimate and qualified pain

mana geme nt experts have specialized knowledge, education, training, and experience and utilize a

multi-disciplinary approach, which som etimes includes, amo ng other things, prescribing Schedu le

II, III, IV, and V controlled substances w ithin the scope of the prevailing standards of professional

practice and with a legitimate medical purpose. A prescription for a controlled substance,

however, violates the Controlled Substances Act and its implementing regulations if it is issued

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outside the scope of the prevailing standards of professional practice and without a legitimate

medical purpose.

16.

Oxycodone is frequently abused because it is a highly addictive narcotic that gives

the user a high equivalent to heroin. Users who abuse pills containing oxycodone frequently do

so by smoking, chewing, dissolving, injecting, or crushing the pills and then ingesting the

substance. These methods, such as crushing, result in a more immediate high because they allow

the active ingredient to more quickly enter the user's system. Abuse of oxycodone can lead to

overdose and, in some cases, death. The risk of overdose and death is increased if oxycodone is

abused along with certain other prescribed controlled substances, such as Alprazolam. Similar to

other illegal narcotics, oxycodone is sold by drug dealers to addicted users, typically for

approximately $1 per milligram.

THE CHARGE

17.

From at least March 2014, up to and including the date of this Indictment, in the

District of Maryland, the defendant,

JOYCE VERCAUTEREN,

did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with others known and

unknown to the Grand Jury, to knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully distribute and possess

with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing oxycodone, also known as Oxycontin,

Percocet, Roxicodone, Roxicet, and Endocet, a schedule II controlled substance, in violation of

Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1).

21 U.S.C. §846

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OBJECT OF THE CONSPIRACY

18.

It was the object of the conspiracy to profit from the illegal distribution of

oxycodone.

19. It was further the object of the conspiracy to have prescriptions for oxycodone

issued to individuals with no medical need so that they could either use them to satisfy an addiction

or to re-sell the pills for a profit.

20.

It was further the object of the conspiracy to charge hundreds of dollars for each

prescription and require customers to pay cash for their prescriptions. Members of the conspiracy

also profited by selling the oxycodone pills obtained from the prescriptions on the street.

21.

It was further the object of the conspiracy to recruit new mem bers of the conspiracy

to serve as ad ditional runners and as the distributors who w ould bring those runners to the pill mill

clinics, in order to generate larger profits.

MANNER AND MEANS OF THE CONSPIRACY

22.

Among the manner and means used by the defendant and other co-conspirators to

carry out the object of the conspiracy were the following:

a.

It was part of the conspiracy that members established pill mill clinics in

Maryland to provide drug addicts, runners, and distributors with places where they could obtain

fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone.

b.

It was part of the conspiracy that members who were operating pill mill

clinics hired doctors to write prescriptions for oxycodone at those clinics and encouraged the

doctors to limit the extent that they checked for legitimate medical problems before prescribing

oxycodone.

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c.

It was part of the conspiracy that members who were operating pill mills

used recruiters to identify and hire doctors to prescribe oxycodone.

d.


clinics required runners to have certain paperwork, generally a magnetic resonance imaging

( MRI ) report and a prescription history, in order to include that in the paperwork in the runner's

file to support a false claim that there was a medical need for the prescription of oxycodone.

Requiring this paperwork also ensured that individuals unknown to the co-conspirators had been

previously prescribed oxycodone and were unlikely to be law enforcement.

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clinics, including VERCAUTEREN, created false MRI reports and prescription histories for

runners.

f.

It was part of the conspiracy that mem bers who were operating the pill mill

clinics, including VERCAUTEREN, charged runners hundreds of dollars in cash to obtain

prescriptions for oxycodone.

g.

It was part of the conspiracy that members operating the pill mill clinics,

including VERCAUTEREN, hired security guards to guard the pill mill clinics (and the large

volume of cash generated at that business) and to manage the large volume of runners and

distributors that came to the clinics to obtain prescriptions for oxycodone.

h.

It was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

conducted transactions and paid debts in cash or using financial vehicles that were difficult to

trace, such as Green Dot cards.

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i. t was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

also fronted the office visit and pharmacy costs to runners and distributors with the

understanding that they would be re-paid later.

J.

t was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

verified prescriptions that they knew were illegitimate when pharmacies would call the pill mill

clinics.

k. t was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

running the pill mill clinics fronted the costs of appointments at the clinics to runners and

distributors, with the understanding that the mem bers would be p aid once the oxycodone obtained

as a result of the visits were sold.

1 . t was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

used threats of violence to collect debts, including from those individuals to whom they had

fronted money and/or prescription medication.

m.


recruited additional distributers and runners from Maryland and other states (such as Ohio) in

order to increase the number of prescriptions sold and the profits.

n.


checked the state prescription drug monitoring program ( PDMP ) databases to determine

whether runners would be caught going to multiple pill mill clinics.

o.


took steps to circumv ent state PDM Ps — which have been established in Maryland and other states

to assist prescribers and dispensers in each state in identifying individuals getting multiple

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prescriptions — in order to ensure that runners and distributors would not be prevented from

obtaining multiple prescriptions from different doctors at the same time.

P.

t was part of the conspiracy that members, including VERCAUTEREN,

would purchase bulk quantities of oxycodone from PHARMACIST 1.

q.

It was a part of the conspiracy that VER CA UTE REN would create, or cause

to be created, fake prescriptions using fake patient names, in order to provide PHARMACIST

with some support for the large quantity of oxycodone pills that were being distributed by

PHARMACIST 1.

r.

It was part of the conspiracy that members took multiple runners to MPC

Wellness and other pill mill clinics in order to obtain prescriptions for oxycodone.

s.

It was part of the conspiracy that members told runners what to tell the

doctors at the pill mill clinics to ensure that they would receive prescriptions for oxycodone.

t. It was part of the conspiracy that distributors and runners obtained

prescriptions from multiple pill mill clinics to increase the supply of oxycodone.

u. It was part of the conspiracy that runners filled prescriptions for oxy codone

from the pill mill clinics regularly at pharmacies in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C.,

Delaware, Ohio, and other states in order to avoid detection by the state PDMPs.

v.

It was part of the conspiracy that members sold oxycodone pills for a profit.

OVERT ACT S

In furtherance of this conspiracy and to effect and accomplish the objects of it, one or more

of the defendants or conspirators, both indicted and unindicted, committed, among others, the

following overt acts in the District of Maryland and elsewhere:

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1.

On or about May 2014, Defendant VERCAUTEREN opened MPC Wellness

Center, 7317 Hanover Parkway, Greenbelt, Maryland.

2.

In or about March 2014, VERCAUTEREN and CO-CONSPIRATOR 1 started

obtaining bulk quantities of oxycodone from PHARMACIST 1 that they would then sell for a

profit.

hereafter, they regularly purchased large quantities of oxycodone pills from

PHARMACIST 1.

3.

On or about July 7, 2014, 22 separate prescriptions for oxycodone — fraudulently

created or caused to be created by VERCAU TEREN — were filled by PHARM ACIST 1.

4.

On or about August 4-5, 2014, 45 separate prescriptions for oxycodone —

fraudulently created or caused to be created by VERC AU TERE N — were filled by PHAR MA CIST

5.

On or about September 3, 2014, 20 separate prescriptions for oxycodone —

fraudulently created or caused to be created by VER CAU TERE N — were filled by PHARM ACIST

1.

6.

On or about October 3, 2014, 24 separate prescriptions for oxycodone —

fraudulently created or caused to be created by VERC AUT EREN — w ere filled by PHA RM ACIST

1.

7.

On or about October 13, 2014, 27 separate prescriptions for oxycodone —

fraudulently created or caused to be created by VERC AUT EREN — w ere filled by PHAR MA CIST

1.

8.

On or about November 24, 2014, VERCAUTEREN arranged for a runner to obtain

an oxycodone prescription from MPC Wellness Center, as long as the runner had not gotten any

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prescriptions filled in Maryland recently, to avoid the Maryland PDMP system. During an

intercepted conversation, VERCAUTEREN said, yeah she ain't got nothing filled in Maryland,

you're okay.... If you have, then it's going to show up. VERCAUTEREN also agreed to

remove a prior, fake MRI report from the file so that the doctor would not be suspicious. During

an intercepted conversation, VERCAUTEREN said, she already know that [the doctor] saw

people with umm ones that weren't real...and we removed them when they got their new one.

9.

On or about November 30, 2014, VERCAUTEREN agreed to create a false

prescription history for two runners so that they could obtain prescriptions from M PC Wellness for

30 mg oxycodone pills. During an intercepted conversation, VERCAUTEREN said, I'm gonna

call you back and get your info, and I'm just gonna make it look like you went a couple months

ago, both of you, and urn you got 'em filled out of state cause it doesn't show up on the system that

she has if it's filled out of state.... VERCAUTEREN explained, if you bring in your one you

have from here, she would probably give you fifteens on account sayin' it's been such a a long

time.

10.

On or about November 30, 2014, VER CAU TER EN agreed to falsify an MR I report

for a runner so that he could get a prescription for oxycodone from MPC Wellness. During an

intercepted conversation, VER CAU TER EN said, as long as they sent that over and i have that fax

number on the top...I can look at your old one and just make it look like nothin' changed. She

explained how she would do it: you go back and look at your old one and urn erase the pretty

much put comparison to whenever you had the other one done...then just still do the same you

know say, whatever's herniated still herniated you know what Pm sayin. VERCAUTEREN also

coached the runner on what to tell the doctor to get the prescription: tell her it, sometimes, it

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feels like when you, like, there's rocks in there and, yeah, it feels like it's rubbing on something....

If [the doctor] cuts you, NI give you a discount or whatever.

11.

On or about December 3, 2014, VERCAUTEREN arranged for a runner to come to

MPC Wellness. During an intercepted conversation, she asked, have you got anything filled

here in Maryland lately? and the runner said, no. VERCAUTEREN instructed the runner that

as long as you fill out of state [the doctor] can't see it.

12.

On or about December 3, 2014, VERCAUTEREN arranged to prepare fraudulent

MRIs and discharge letters for a runner. During an intercepted conversation, she explained,

Yeah, she said as long as y'all get those, um, updated MRIs and the discharge, which I'll do those

for y'all because, I mean, [another individual] did a shitty job on them prescription histories.

Later that day, VERCAUTEREN spoke to that individual and explained that, to make the

fraudulent discharge letters, she would just make up a doctor name that matched the prescription

history that he had created: I mean I'm just gonna, I just gonna make up a Davis name out of...a

clinic out of Ohio.

13.

On or about December 3, 2014, VERCAUTEREN arranged to purchase a large

quantity of oxycodone 30 mg pills. During an intercepted conversation, she said, definitely I'm

gonna, gonna do it because I know he gets 'em this week, like a whole shitload of 'ern, the 30s

so...we need to get over there before asshole... before he gets over there and starts digging in.

He's not going to have the money to cover what we can because he owes everyone and he can do a

little at a time. You see what I'm sayin? So we just go over there and say, look, you know we up

here, people havin' to follow us to the pharmacy because we owe every fucking body. We just

come in right, get our shit, leave peacefully, and get the hell outta here you know.

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14.

On or about December 4, 2014, VERCA UTER EN threatened a drug associate who

owed her money. During an intercepted conversation, VERCAUTEREN said, I'm not gonna

fuckin calm down. I'm telling you like it fuckin' is, and if you want me to bring a whole bunch of

dudes, I'll get fuckin' seven DMIs over there and I won't even show up.... The associate said, It

doesn't have to be like that at all, and VERCAUTEREN said, Yes it does have to be like that

because I don't really give a fuck at this point about the fuckin money, because one way or the

other, whether it comes out of your ass or your pocket, you're fuckin' payin' me because I'm tired

of getting screwed over.... After the associate said, I'll bring it to you Monday morning...I

won't have it by tomorrow. I can't sell that much stuff in one night. VERCAUTEREN said,

that's not my problem...you just let me know which one you want. You want to bring it to me,

you want Taz, or you want DMI.... Cause guess what? I lived in Brooklyn. I am one of them,

so all you people who think you fuckin know me, you better check your mother fuckin' self.

15.

On or about December 12, 2014, VERCAUTEREN planned to harm

CO-CONSPIRATOR 1, who owed her money. During an intercepted conversation, she

explained that she would kill both CO-CONSPIRATOR 1 and his girlfriend with an injection to

make it look like an overdose. She said that she had the needles and could get the drug with one

phone call. They talked about killing the girlfriend first so that CO-CONSPIRATOR 1 would

have to watch. They also discussed borrowing a car to cover their tracks. They talked about

enlisting the aid of ano ther individual, who they could kill as w ell if they thought that he would tell

the authorities.

All in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846.

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FORFEITURE

1.

The allegations contained in Count One of this Indictment are hereby realleged

and incorporated by reference for the purpose of alleging forfeitures pursuant to Title 21, United

States Code, Section 853, Title 18 United States Code, Section 981(a)(1)(C), and Title 28 United

States Code, Section 2461(c).

2. Pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section 853, upon conviction of an

offense in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841 or 846, the defendant,

JOYCE VERCAUTEREN,

shall forfeit to the United States of America any property constituting, or derived from, any

proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as the result of such offense and any property used, or

intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit, or to facilitate the commission of, the

offense and all interest and proceeds traceable thereto, including, but not limited to, a sum of

money in the amount of at least $1,200,000.

SUBSTITUTE ASSETS

3. If any of the property subject to forfeiture, as a result of any act or omission of the

defendant:

a.

cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence;

b. has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party;

c. has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court;

d. has been substantially diminished in value; or

his figure is calculated using the street value of the oxycodone pills that would have been distributed by

MPC Wellness during one month of operation. Four hundred total patients in a month, each receiving at least 100

oxycodone 30 mg pills, would total 40,000 pills in one month. A street value of 30 per pill would be the equivalent

of 1,200,000.

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e. as been commingled with other property which cannot be divided

without difficulty,

the United States of America shall be entitled to forfeiture of substitute property pursuant to 21

U.S.C. § 853(p), as incorporated by Title 18. United States Code, Section 982(b)(I), including

but not limited to the following:

a. ll right, title and interest in the following assets, accounts and holdings:

i. he 2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT bearing Georgia registration number

PSQ1315, and vehicle identification number ( VIN )

2G1FB1EV3A9105727.

18 U.S.C. § 982(a)

21 U.S.C. § 853(a)

28 U.S.C. § 2461(c)

Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.2(a)

United States Attorney

A TRUE BILL:

Date: 7 1

Foreperson

OD OOSENSTEIN

C

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Pill Mill-Vercauteren Indictment

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