Vero Beach doctor Johnny Benjamin found guilty of drug charges, not guilty of weapons charges

FORT LAUDERDALE — A jury found Vero Beach doctor Johnny Benjamin guilty of five of the seven federal drug charges against him after deliberating for just three hours Friday.

Benjamin, 53, an orthopedic surgeon who practiced at Pro Spine Center, was targeted by the Drug Enforcement Agency after a Palm Beach County woman overdosed on furanyl fentanyl-laced pills in September 2016.

Two men who pleaded guilty earlier this month to selling her those pills became DEA informants, secretly recording conversations that helped agents build the case against Benjamin that culminated in the trial that began April 20.

More: Vero Beach doctor Johnny Benjamin's federal drug trial begins with emphasis on overdose

Benjamin hung his head as the first guilty verdict was announced and listened silently, standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I love you," one of his relatives called out as Benjamin gave a tight-lipped smile before U.S. marshals escorted him out of the courtroom, ankles shackled.

Benjamin faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison, but he could get life and be required to pay millions in fines when he is sentenced in July by District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.

More: Vero Beach pharmacists testify in second day of Dr. Johnny Benjamin's federal drug trial

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S Attorney John McMillan with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia and DEA Special Agent Michael Buemi.

"We are very happy with the jury’s verdict of guilty," McMillan said outside the courtroom Friday. "A young woman’s life was lost due to the defendant misusing his talents as a physician, and such activity surely deserves a heavy punishment."

Benjamin was represented by West Palm Beach attorney Donnie Murrell and Vero Beach attorney Andy Metcalf.

"We’re gratified with the two not-guilty verdicts," Metcalf said, declining to comment further on the case until after the sentencing hearing, set for July 7 in the same Fort Lauderdale courtroom.

More: New evidence emerges in case against Johnny Benjamin, doctor facing federal drug charges

Convicted

The jury began deliberations about 9:30 a.m. Prosecutors wheeled a black cart laden with boxes and bags containing hundreds of pieces of evidence into the deliberation room after.

More than 20 guns, several pill bottles, a large brown box filled with documents and a fentanyl-coated scale found in a storage space Benjamin rented in Gifford — each presented in the five preceding days of testimony — were available for the jurors to examine as they worked to make unanimous decisions on each of the seven charges.

Ammunition and drugs were kept in the courtroom, protected by bailiffs.

More: Johnny Benjamin Jr., Pro Spine Center doctor arrested on attempted drug trafficking, robbery charges

The jury asked just one question, seeking a master list to help them wade through the 150-odd pieces of evidence. Jurors didn't get one, but nonetheless they announced a verdict after three hours.

As they returned to the courtroom about 12:45 p.m., none of the 12 jurors looked in the direction of the tall, thin former surgeon, dressed in a blue suit jacket and khaki pants.

Benjamin was found guilty of:

Conspiring with two Palm Beach County men turned DEA informants to possess and distribute the furanyl fentanyl on which Maggie Crowley overdosed.

Possessing acetyl fentanyl with the intent to distribute. He was supplied by the DEA with 4,000 pills as the investigation drew to a close. The pills were seized from Benjamin at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in October when he tried carrying them onto a flight to Philadelphia. Benjamin was captured on hidden camera taking the pills from an informant and discussing plans for distributing them in the Northeast.

Conspiring with the DEA informants to possess and distribute various prescription opioids throughout most of 2016. Several people testified Benjamin wrote them phony prescriptions that were filled at various Vero Beach pharmacies. The pills, they said, were returned to the doctor for distribution.

Possessing oxycodone with the intent to distribute when he was first arrested Oct. 12 by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office. He has been incarcerated since, with most time spent at a federal detention center in Miami.

More: PSL dermatologist Gary Marder sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraud, obstructing FBI

Benjamin was found not guilty of possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. More than 20 guns were seized from Benjamin’s Mercedes and his home in the 900 block of Painted Bunting Lane upon his arrest.

The defense contended having pistols and shotguns did not make Benjamin a criminal, but rather a gun enthusiast.

Family

The family of Maggie Crowley, the 34-year-old woman whose overdose death launched the investigation into Benjamin, was emotional after the verdict.

"I’m sure this is going to save a lot of other families the grief we’ve had," said Louis DiVita, Crowley’s uncle and godfather.

DiVita and his wife live in Stuart. They attended each day of the trial alongside Jennifer Cavallaro and her husband, cousins of Crowley’s.

More: Treasure Coast dermatologist Tim Ioannides pays $2.5 million to settle fake billing lawsuit

"Maggie was smart, beautiful, witty, hard-working, loving and everyone’s best friend," said Cavallaro, who lives in Wellington, across the street from Crowley’s old apartment. "We all miss her every second of every day."

Shaun Crowley, Maggie Crowley’s husband, was also present each day. He moved back to his hometown in New York shortly after his wife’s death and flew south with his father for the trial.

He was one of the first to testify out of 44 witnesses brought by the government and was pressed during his cross-examination by the defense on whether his wife was addicted to opioids.

"She wasn’t a junkie. She clearly wasn’t the person they painted her as," said Shaun Crowley.

The verdict, he said, made the trip and the pain of the trial all worth it.

More: 42 arrested after investigation targeting heroin/fentanyl dealers

DiVita said hundreds of people attended the vigil and wake for his goddaughter, who was set to become proprietor of her own Outback Steakhouse in the Florida Keys and had begun training the week she died.

"She made a mistake but she was a great person. She just fell into it. I don’t know why. She was educated, smart and well-liked," DiVita said. "This is a crisis. An absolute crisis."

Synthetic opioid deaths across the country increased 264 percent from 2012 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and its analogs — which can be 50 times more potent than heroin — are chiefly to blame for the spike, according to the DEA.

More: Treasure Coast troopers among first to be equipped with drug to battle opioid overdoses

"This prosecution sends a clear message of the commitment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Greenberg and the DEA to battle and stop the ongoing poisoning of Americans from people using these foreign-produced fentanyl analogs and combat the profiteers of opiate abuse," McMillan said.

"The jury’s verdict plainly signals they feel the same way."

More: Download TCPalm's smartphone apps for local news coverage, entertainment