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Two indicted, one already jailed for alleged ‘pill mill’ with North Olmsted office

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A former co-owner of a medical clinic which had an office in North Olmsted and a doctor who worked there were indicted last week on 170 charges involving medical fraud in what one law enforcement officer deemed a “pill mill.”

Diane Javier, 71, and Dr. Stephen Bernie of the Medical Care Group were indicted last week by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury after an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and the Westshore Enforcement Bureau. The Medical Care Group had offices in Cleveland, North Olmsted, Parma, Euclid and Warrensville Heights. Those indictments come after Kim Seltzer, a former worker at the group’s North Olmsted Lorain Road office, plead guilty last year to Worker’s Compensation fraud, tampering with records and drug fraud, all stemming from his work at the North Olmsted office. Seltzer is currently serving a 51-month sentence at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. [Read more…]

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leveland woman gets 11 years in prison for stealing and selling prescription painkillers

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A Cleveland woman will spend 11 years in prison for writing fraudulent prescriptions for pain pills as part of a ring that was selling the drugs.

Heather Mitchell was sentenced Monday by Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge John Sutula.

She pleaded guilty to 35 charges including corruption, forgery, identity fraud, theft, drug trafficking and deception to obtain an illegal drug.

Mitchell operated as part of a ring that prosecutors said distributed more than 5,000 opioid pain pills, primarily OxyContin and Vicodin, using phony prescriptions.

“Heather Mitchell ran one of the most sophisticated prescription drug rings we have ever seen,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer O’Malley said Monday. “She manipulated at least a dozen people – many of them struggling with drug addiction – to help her obtain more than 5,000 prescription pills and then push them out on to the streets of Cuyahoga County and five other counties in Greater Cleveland.”

She obtained prescription pads from doctors’ offices and stole Drug Enforcement Agency numbers, then using them to write prescriptions for narcotic medication, which prosecutors say others would use to pick up medication at pharmacies across Northeast Ohio.

Published by cleveland.com

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15 indicted for drug ring involving forged prescriptions that put 5,000 pills on the street

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Sweeping indictments have been issued by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor in the search for 14 people involved in an illegal prescription drug ring that took place between December 2012 and October 2014.

Police have already arrested James Decore in connection with the prescription drug ring that prosecutors sad put more than 5,000 pills on the street. [Read more…]

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Federally funded agency warns states considering legal pot

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States considering legalizing recreational marijuana should think again. That is the message of a federally funded agency which recently released a report on the negative effects of legal pot in Colorado.

“[Traffic] fatalities related to marijuana, it showed about a 28 percent increase [since legalization],” said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which compiled the report. [Read more…]

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Cuyahoga County Announces New Life-Saving Naloxone Efforts

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In another concrete response to the area’s heroin epidemic, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas P. Gilson today announced funding for the Westshore Enforcement Bureau’s (WEB) Nasal Narcan program. Narcan, the commercial name for Naloxone, is a medication that can reverse an overdose caused by an opioid drug, such as heroin or prescription pain medications. When administered during an overdose, Naloxone blocks the effects of opioids on the brain and quickly restores breathing.

“It’s essential that we equip our patrol officers and personnel with Naloxone, and I applaud the Westshore Enforcement Bureau for their commitment and collaboration on this life saving effort,” said County Executive FitzGerald. “The Westshore Enforcement Bureau, Dr. Gilson, and I will continue to seek out ways to save the lives of those affected by this heroin epidemic.”

Prior to 2014, only EMS and Emergency rooms could legally administer Naloxone. Research done by Dr. Gilson and the Heroin Review Committee showed that while EMS responded to over 90% of heroin overdose deaths, the administration of naloxone only happened about 22% of the time; that it was nearly always too late to even attempt naloxone reversal. [Read more…]

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Heroin: Your first time may be your last

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