CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The owner of a Mingo County pain clinic where millions of prescription pills were reportedly doled out like candy has been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding Medicare.
In an information filed on Friday, prosecutors accuse Cameron J. Justice, 30, of Crum, with conspiring to misuse a doctor's registration number to prescribe hydrocodone and alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax, between 2005 and March 2009.
The filing also charges Justice, the owner and president of Justice Medical Complex LLC, with aiding and abetting health-care fraud by billing the government for work purportedly performed by a doctor that actually was done by nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants.
An information cannot be filed without a defendant's permission, and generally indicates that the defendant is cooperating with the government.
In March 2009, federal agents raided the offices of Justice Medical and two nearby pharmacies as part of an investigation into an alleged prescription pill ring. In an affidavit submitted in support of Justice Medical search warrants, an agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote that the pain clinic catered to clients hoping for quick access to pain pills.
The patients then were steered to two local pharmacies, one of which was located next door to the medical facility, according to the affidavit. One of the pharmacies in Kermit reportedly sold almost 3.2 million hydrocodone pills in 2006, dramatically eclipsing the national average of 97,000 pills per pharmacy.
In December, Dr. John Theodore Tiano admitted that he allowed staff members at Justice Medical to prescribe drugs under his name. He also admitted that he knew that Justice Medical billed Medicare for his medical services as a doctor, and received almost $120,000 in reimbursement, even though he was not regularly seeing patients between December 2005 and March 2007.
Justice helped recruit Tiano, who was a cardiology resident at Marshall University's medical school, to moonlight at the clinic in 2005, Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Schwartz said during Tiano's plea hearing. Justice initially intended to rely on Dr. Gregory Wells to supervise the medical portion of the business, but Wells had just been released from federal prison and could not obtain a medical license in West Virginia, she said.
When the clinic actually opened, Tiano was the only doctor on staff, she said. Tiano initially traveled to the clinic to see patients, but when his cardiology program required him to be in Huntington most of the time, staff members at the clinic began issuing prescriptions using his Drug Enforcement Administration registration number, she said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The owner of a Mingo County pain clinic where millions of prescription pills were reportedly doled out like candy has been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding Medicare.
In an information filed on Friday, prosecutors accuse Cameron J. Justice, 30, of Crum, with conspiring to misuse a doctor's registration number to prescribe hydrocodone and alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax, between 2005 and March 2009.
The filing also charges Justice, the owner and president of Justice Medical Complex LLC, with aiding and abetting health-care fraud by billing the government for work purportedly performed by a doctor that actually was done by nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants.
An information cannot be filed without a defendant's permission, and generally indicates that the defendant is cooperating with the government.
In March 2009, federal agents raided the offices of Justice Medical and two nearby pharmacies as part of an investigation into an alleged prescription pill ring. In an affidavit submitted in support of Justice Medical search warrants, an agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote that the pain clinic catered to clients hoping for quick access to pain pills.
The patients then were steered to two local pharmacies, one of which was located next door to the medical facility, according to the affidavit. One of the pharmacies in Kermit reportedly sold almost 3.2 million hydrocodone pills in 2006, dramatically eclipsing the national average of 97,000 pills per pharmacy.
In December, Dr. John Theodore Tiano admitted that he allowed staff members at Justice Medical to prescribe drugs under his name. He also admitted that he knew that Justice Medical billed Medicare for his medical services as a doctor, and received almost $120,000 in reimbursement, even though he was not regularly seeing patients between December 2005 and March 2007.
Justice helped recruit Tiano, who was a cardiology resident at Marshall University's medical school, to moonlight at the clinic in 2005, Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Schwartz said during Tiano's plea hearing. Justice initially intended to rely on Dr. Gregory Wells to supervise the medical portion of the business, but Wells had just been released from federal prison and could not obtain a medical license in West Virginia, she said.
When the clinic actually opened, Tiano was the only doctor on staff, she said. Tiano initially traveled to the clinic to see patients, but when his cardiology program required him to be in Huntington most of the time, staff members at the clinic began issuing prescriptions using his Drug Enforcement Administration registration number, she said.
Tiano's compensation, which approached $250,000 for the period between December 2005 and March 2007, was linked to how much the clinic billed Medicare for his services, Schwartz said.
Tiano faces up to 14 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. on March 18. If convicted, Justice faces the same potential sentence.
Last month, prosecutors filed charges similar to Tiano's against Dr. Augusto T. Abad of Charleston. Abad is accused of allowing Justice Medical staff to use his DEA registration number between January 2008 and March 2009. A plea hearing for Abad has been scheduled for Feb. 26.
The prescriptions issued at Justice Medical were steered toward two Sav-Rite pharmacies, one in Kermit and one that opened in 2008 adjacent to the medical facility between Kermit and Crum in Wayne County, the affidavit maintains.
James P. Wooley owns both pharmacies, according to court filings.
Debra Justice, Cameron Justice's mother and Wooley's former secretary, is listed on the Secretary of State's Web site as an organizer of Justice Medical.
Federal authorities launched the investigation into the alleged pain pill ring following a December 2007 complaint to the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the affidavit. The anonymous tipster alleged that Debra Justice and Wooley hatched a plan to open a pain clinic that would funnel all of its prescriptions to Wooley's pharmacy, and that they were "handing out drugs like candy."
Wooley and Debra Justice have not been charged with any criminal activity.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
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