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Feds indict five more South Florida doctors on drug charges
By Palm Beach Business.com
DELRAY BEACH — Federal law enforcement authorities continue their crackdown on so-called pill mills, indicting 13 South Florida residents, including five doctors, on charges of illegal distribution of pain killers, steroids and human growth hormones through a ring that operated in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties.
It is the second major pill mill indictment unsealed in the last two weeks.
Those charged in the indictment are: Peter DelToro, 38 of Palm City; Richard DelToro, 60 of Port St. Lucie; Jaclyn Rubino, 31 of Stuart; Dr. Pedro Carrillo 52, of Escondido, Calif.; Dr. Jeffrey Perelman, 54 of Fort Lauderdale; Paul Joyce, 49 of Palm Beach Gardens; Charles Cooke, 50 of Palm Beach Gardens; Donald Montano, 74 of Jupiter; Kevin Johnson, 41 of Jupiter; Craig Beaver, 47 of Lake Worth; Dr. Alan Lefkin, 53 of Parkland; Dr, Steven Pearlstein, 56 of Coral Springs; and Dr. Timothy Sigman, 40 of Sebastian. Beaver is a chiropractic doctor.
“According to the indictment unsealed today, these defendants were involved in a scheme to push dangerous drugs -- steroids, human growth hormone, and oxycodone — into the hands of buyers who lacked legitimate prescriptions,” said Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the Justice Department. “Sadly, the defendants include physicians who, we allege, were doctors doing harm: ignoring their oaths and obligation to put the health and safety of patients first.”
According to the indictment, the DelToros and Jaclyn Rubino operated Treasure Coast Specialty Pharmacy in Jensen Beach, which distributed steroids, human growth hormone, and oxycodone to patients and clinics across the nation and abroad.
Others in the indictment allegedly operated a variety of clinics that purported to provide anti-aging, hormone replacement, and pain management care. The indictment alleges that the clinics hired doctors who would sign prescriptions written by clinic operators and salespeople to patients who had no medical need for the drugs.
The clinics in turn would send the prescriptions to Treasure Coast Specialty Pharmacy, which would ship the drugs directly to customers and at times, to the clinics. According to the indictment, the pharmacy owner illegally attempted to import steroids, of the same type used to fill the clinics’ prescriptions, from China.
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