Doctors, pharmacists among 41 busted for massive Houston-area pill mill scheme

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2018, file photo, oxycodone pills are displayed in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2018, file photo, oxycodone pills are displayed in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) Photo: Mark Lennihan, Associated Press Photo: Mark Lennihan, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Doctors, pharmacists among 41 busted for massive Houston-area pill mill scheme 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

More than three dozen doctors, pharmacists, clinicians and so-called patients were arrested Wednesday after federal authorities uncovered a massive alleged "pill mill" operation throughout Houston.

Federal prosecutors charged 41 people in the alleged scheme, which they said helped supply drug dealers across the country with hundreds of thousands of illegally dispensed prescription drugs.

Under the scheme, people pretending to be patients in pain went to see a doctor, who was in on the plan and would write a prescription for either oxycodone, hydrocodone or carisoprodol (sometimes all three, known as the "Houston Cocktail" to the feds).

Sometimes the patients would bring the prescriptions to chain pharmacies, but they more often brought the prescription to a pharmacy whose employees were in on the scheme. Once the pills were in hand, they were turned over to someone who had a network of dealers across the country – sometimes as far away as Boston – for illegal sale.

Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said with these most recent arrests, as well as the creation of a specialized strike force in San Antonio and Rio Grande Valley, they hope to quell the opioid crisis in the United States, which contributed to more than 68,000 drug overdose deaths in 2018.

"Each of those deaths stands as a stark reminder of the lives, families and communities ravaged by drug addiction," Benczkowski said.

In all, doctors dealt out more than 22 million pills in the Houston area, enough to give every Texan at least one dose each of either of the three prescriptions.

Nearly all of the 41 Houston-area suspects charged in the case were arrested in a massive county-wide roundup Wednesday morning, authorities said. They include doctors, pharmacists, pharmacy employees, clinic owners and clinic employees, all of whom are believed to have been in on the scheme.

During Wednesday's arrests, authorities seized 20 vehicles, nine firearms and close to $200,000 in cash.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message