DEA's Rx operation rounds up 9 in state

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers carry boxes into KJ Medical Clinic on Wednesday after they raided the west Little Rock offices.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers carry boxes into KJ Medical Clinic on Wednesday after they raided the west Little Rock offices.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested nine people Wednesday in central Arkansas as part of a regional investigation into prescription drug abuse that has led to charges being filed against 140 people in the state in slightly more than a year.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Joined Wednesday in Little Rock by federal, state and local law enforcement officials, U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer (at lectern) said his office will continue to “aggressively investigate” prescription drug fraud.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Little Rock police officers gather Wednesday outside KJ Medical Clinic after Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the clinic and arrested seven people. Another person was arrested in a simultaneous raid at Bowman Curve Pharmacy.

The investigation, titled "Operation Pillution," is the agency's largest-ever prescription drug operation and targeted large sources of illegally obtained prescription medication in the South.

In addition to the nine people arrested Wednesday in Arkansas, 22 were arrested in Louisiana, nine in Alabama and eight in Mississippi -- all on pharmaceutical-abuse charges, said Chris Givens, spokes

man for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. All of the arrests occurred at suspected "pill mills," where people could obtain prescriptions without having a legitimate medical need, he said.

In the Arkansas raid, DEA agents simultaneously made arrests at KJ Medical Clinic and Bowman Curve Pharmacy in Little Rock.

U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer said during a news conference that people at KJ Medical Center had illegally written prescriptions for about 287,500 hydrocodone tablets and 200,000 Xanax tablets in the past 10 months, and that many of the prescriptions had been filled at Bowman Curve Pharmacy.

In total, the DEA has made 280 arrests in the past 15 months of Operation Pillution. Twenty-five doctors and pharmacists have been charged in the four states, and more than 40 DEA registrations, which allow health care providers to prescribe controlled substances, have been surrendered or taken.

Authorities seized $11,651,565 in cash and $6,745,800 in property in the four states, according to a DEA release.

Special Agent Keith Brown, with the New Orleans Division of the DEA that is leading the operation, said Wednesday's arrests mark the end of the first phase of the investigation, but "there's still much more to come."

"A little over a year ago, we started looking at data for these states. All four have staggering prescription drug abuse rates, prescription drug overdose death rates," Brown said. "We decided we're going after it. We have people who swore an oath, who are throwing that oath out the window and who are profiting, sometimes obscenely profiting, from other peoples' addiction. They are drug dealers, and they have to be treated as such."

During the operation, five drug-distribution rings were uncovered in Arkansas. According to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office, the networks were responsible for distributing hundreds of thousands of doses, including hydrocodone, oxycodone, alprazolam (Xanax) and hydromorphone, throughout Pulaski, Faulkner, Perry, Lonoke and Saline counties.

Of the 140 people charged in Arkansas, four are doctors, four are nurses and five are pharmacists, Thyer said. Ninety-four face federal charges, and the other 46 were charged in state or local courts.

"I think this takes out a good portion of the distribution at least in central Arkansas," Thyer said. "But I'm not naive to tell you that this is going to solve the problem. Fixing this problem is going to take a multifaceted approach from many, many different disciplines. Hydrocodone and oxycodone are still available on the streets today."

DEA agents began investigating KJ Medical Clinic in July 2014, when it was named Artex Medical Clinic. At the time, pharmacists at Walgreens and Wal-Mart locations told the DEA they were receiving "numerous" controlled substance prescriptions from the clinic, including some with typographical errors.

Investigators discovered that "recruiters" would find people, most of them homeless, and take them to receive a prescription at the clinic, which is at 11215 Hermitage Road, Suite 201, Thyer said. The person would fill the prescription, and then the recruiters would collect the medication in return for a small fee.

According to a written statement from the U.S. attorney, undercover officers went to KJ Medical Clinic and paid $200 for prescription drugs, either without receiving an examination or after receiving an "inadequate" examination.

In November 2014, those who frequented the clinic were asked to fill their prescriptions at Bowman Curve Pharmacy, 400 N. Bowman Road, rather than a large retail chain, Thyer said.

From Dec. 15, 2014, to March 6, 2015, Bowman Curve Pharmacy filled a total of 1,484 prescriptions, he said, and 1,478 of them originated from KJ Medical Clinic.

The two locations were raided at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Shortly before 11 a.m., DEA agents, SWAT and Little Rock police remained outside the clinic.

From the clinic, authorities recovered four loaded firearms and a money counter, Thyer said.

Those arrested at KJ Medical Clinic include: clinic managers Chris Manson, 31, of Little Rock and Randy Chane, 52, of Houston, Texas; medical doctor Jerry Reifeiss, 60, of Conway; office workers Densheo Davis, 43, of Natchez, Miss., and Larosha Hall, 33, of Pine Bluff; and security officer Gerry Hill, 29, of Little Rock.

Edward Palmer II, 23, of Conway, was also arrested. Palmer is said to have been a "recruiter" and "distributor."

At Bowman Curve Pharmacy, agents arrested pharmacist Kristen Holland, 33, of Bryant.

Another person was arrested in Faulkner County. More information about that arrest was not available Wednesday.

Later Wednesday, DEA agents said they were still searching for 25-year-old Kenneth Lowery of Conway and 38-year-old Jason Sowers of Pine Bluff, both suspected of being recruiters and distributors.

Summonses to appear in court were issued for KJ Medical Clinic's owner, Anthony King, 39, of Little Rock, as well as five other employees, and pharmacy staff member Justin Dyer, 25, of Little Rock.

Eighteen people were listed in a federal indictment on conspiracy to distribute Schedule II, III and IV controlled substances. Nine of them also face possession with intent to distribute Schedule II and II controlled substances.

KJ Medical Clinic is connected with several other "pill mills" in the Dallas area, Thyer said. He would not comment on details about the connection Wednesday.

During the announcement of the operation, Thyer issued a warning to other health care providers that may be participating in fraudulent practices.

"We will not only aggressively investigate and prosecute the drug dealers who put the drug in the hand of the users, but we will also aggressively investigate and prosecute the health care professionals who are providing those drugs to those same dealers," he said.

Besides the one doctor and one pharmacist arrested in Arkansas, two doctors were arrested in Louisiana during the Wednesday raids, Givens said. Four doctors also were arrested at a health care clinic in Alabama, and a nurse practitioner in Mississippi.

Earlier distribution rings uncovered in Arkansas during Operation Pillution include the case against Richard Johns, a Little Rock doctor arrested Monday over accusations he wrote nearly 200 fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for approximately 16,830 pills. Johns was released from Lonoke County jail Tuesday on $50,000 bond and faces 187 counts of fraudulent practice.

A Perryville pharmacist is suspected of operating another distribution ring. Christopher Watson, the store manager of Perry County Food and Drugstore, is accused of selling medication after hours and forging prescriptions to account for the missing pills. A 44-count, 28-person indictment was filed in that case earlier this month.

In October, an oxycodone-distribution indictment was filed for Charolda Walton and 32 others who are accused of selling prescription drugs out of a home at 1723 S. Grant St., in Little Rock. Former NFL and Arkansas Razorback running back Cedric Cobbs was included in that indictment.

Another distribution ring in Little Rock came under investigation in 2013. An initial indictment was handed up against Steven Otey Sr. and his distribution network in August 2014. Otey was accused of supplying about 2,500 hydromorphone pills and other drugs a month. In February 2015, a second superseding indictment was handed up against Otey and seven others.

The last case Thyer cited involved individuals obtaining valid prescriptions for oxycodone and then illegally selling the pills. An indictment was filed against seven people, including Josh Oliver, in April 2014. All of the defendants have entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.

"According to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], death from prescription painkillers has reached epidemic proportions," Thyer said. "Unfortunately, Arkansas is not only immune from that epidemic, but in some ways, we are the leading cause of it."

Metro on 05/21/2015

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Edward Palmer II.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Chris Manson.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Randy Chane.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Jerry Reifeiss.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Gerry Hill.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Kristen Holland.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Davis.

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Pulaski County sheriff's office

Hall.

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