Illegal pain clinic shut down in Citrus

By A.B. Sidibe

Special to the Citizen

CRYSTAL RIVER — A doctor with a dubious history around pain clinics was arrested and charged in a morning multi-agency raid on Feb. 7 at his office for allegedly prescribing 1,567,988 pills in the past 12 months, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office.

Of that number, 643,000 were doses of oxycodone, said John Bergen, lead detective.

The street value of the pills is estimated to be $12 million. Other prescriptions included doses of Xanax, Soma, Methadone, Oxycontin and other schedule II and III substances.

Officials from the state Department of Health also suspended the doctor’s license and ordered him to cease and desist in the operation of the illegal clinic. The business is not a registered pain clinic in the state, according to investigators.

It is the biggest pain clinic shutdown in the history of Citrus County, according to authorities.

 “This is putting a huge dent in the pill problem in Central Florida,” Bergen said.

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