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Palm Beach, Broward doctors accused of operating pill mills
By Palm Beach Business.com
WEST PALM BEACH — A federal grand jury has indicted 32 South Florida residents, including 13 doctors, on charges of operating “pill mills” in Broward and Palm Beach counties that illegally sold as much as $40 million in prescription drugs.
One of the defendants, Jeff George, twin brother of fellow defendant Christopher George, also faces second degree murder charges for the death of a patient, Joey Bartolucci, in January 2009.
Also involved in the scheme: two businesses, International Marketing & Finance Group and American Marketing Group, that supposedly sold time shares on behalf of owners. According to the indictment both firms were boiler rooms that that scammed time-share owners. Defendants allegedly used proceeds from the pill mill operation to finance the time-share scam.
The five-count indictment was filed August 11 and unsealed Tuesday. It charges the 32 with racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, maintaining drug-involved premises and wire and mail fraud conspiracy.
Those charged are: Christopher Paul George, 30, Jeffrey George, 30, Derik Nolan, 34, Christopher Hutson, 31, all of Wellington; Theodore Obermeyer, 30 of West Palm Beach; Ethan Baumhoff, 40 of Fort. Lauderdale; Andrew Harrington, 31 of Deerfield Beach; Daryl Michael Stewart, 44 of West Palm Beach; Steven Goodman, 67 of St. Petersburg.
Also, Michael Renda, 30 of West Palm Beach; Matthew Siss, 25, of Jupiter; Pedro Martinez, 35 of Royal Palm Beach; Jason Leve, 33 of Wellington; Jack Martin, 48 of North Palm Beach, Marc Anthony Naya, 26, of Boynton Beach, Zachary Horsley, 25, of Royal Palm Beach, Gino Marquez, 30 of Wellington; Dianna Pavnick George, 27 of Wellington; and Denice Haggerty, 58 of Wellington.
The doctors charged include: Beau Boshers, 47 of Palm Beach Gardens; Michael Aruta, 48, of Boca Raton; Cynthia Cadet, 41 of Parkland; Roni Dreszer, 36 of Sunny Isles Beach; Patrick Graham, 64 of Boca Raton; Daniel Hauser, 61 of Hollywood; Robert Meek, 36 of Davie; Vernon Atreidis, 46 of Fort. Lauderdale, Augusto Lizarazo, 70 of Jupiter, Christine Chico-Blume, 59, of Jupiter; Joseph Castronuovo, M.D., 72 of Key Largo, Irwin Beretsky, 76 of Boca Raton; and Jacobo Dreszer, 70 of Sunny Isles Beach.
The indictment alleges that George brothers operated, managed and financed four alleged pain management clinics.
According to the indictment, the clinics would issue prescriptions for prescription pain killers to patients without regard to medical need. During the time the clinics operated — from 2006 to April 2010, they sold about 20 million oxycodone pills and generated more than $40 million in revenue from the illegal sale of drugs.
