From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   Garland doctor, other 'dealers' sentenced in Dallas 'pill mill' case   
   Staff report | Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 5:45 pm   
      
      
      
   A Garland physician who ran a "cash only clinic" in Dallas that operated not   
   as a legitimate medical facility, but as a place to unlawfully obtain   
   controlled substances, and several coconspirators who operated as "dealers,"   
   were sentenced Wednesday    
   afternoon, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District   
   of Texas.   
      
   Dr. Nicolas Alfonso Padron, 55, of Garland, was sentenced by U.S. District   
   Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 87 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty in   
   September 2013 to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a Schedule   
   III controlled    
   substance.  Lynn also ordered forfeiture on his house, two cars, a boat and   
   several bank accounts.   
       
   Padron and co-defendant Jose L. Martinez, 54, of Flower Mound, Texas, opened   
   Padron Wellness Clinic , 1000 Emerald Isle Drive in Dallas, in Fall 2010.The   
   clinic operated as a "pill mill," or place to unlawfully obtain controlled   
   substances, such as    
   hydrocodone. Martinez was convicted at trial in February 2014 on one count of   
   conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and is awaiting   
   sentencing. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal   
   prison, a $250,000 fine and    
   restitution.   
      
   Wednesday, other defendants who were convicted for their roles in the   
   conspiracy were also sentenced:    
   Josephis Austin, 60, of Dallas was sentenced to 84 months;   
   Patricia A. Bryant, 60, of Dallas, was sentenced to 54 months;   
   Dennis J. Wade, 36, of Dallas, was sentenced to 21 months.   
      
   Austin and Bryant were each convicted at trial in February 2014 on one count   
   of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances unlawfully.  Wade and Allen   
   C. Burkins, Jr., 43, of Dallas, each pleaded guilty earlier this year to the   
   same offense.  Burkins    
   is scheduled to be sentenced on December 19, 2014.   
       
   All four were "dealers" who would recruit "patients," often from homeless   
   shelters, and drive them in groups to the clinic. The dealers would typically   
   escort the patients into the clinic, coordinate with Martinez, and pay cash   
   for the office visits.    
   Sometimes, Padron would see two or more patients at a time in the examination   
   room. Patient visits were short and patients would normally leave with a   
   30-day prescription of 120 units (pills) of hydrocodone and 30-90 units of   
   alprazolam.Padron diagnosed    
   the majority of his patients with lower back pain and anxiety without regard   
   to their true condition. For most of these patients, Padron did not prescribe   
   or treat these "symptoms" with anything other than hydrocodone and alprazolam.   
   Thus, the    
   prescriptions were medically unnecessary and outside the scope of professional   
   practice.   
      
   Once Padron issued the prescriptions, the coconspirator dealers would drive   
   groups of patients to Urban Independent Pharmacy, located at 6300 Samuell   
   Blvd., in Dallas, to get the prescriptions filled.  Convicted co-conspirator   
   and licensed pharmacist,    
   Lisa Hollier, 44, of Sunnyvale, owned and operated that pharmacy.  She was   
   convicted at trial earlier this year on one count of conspiracy to distribute,   
   unlawfully, a controlled substance and was sentenced in July  to 60 months in   
   federal prison.   
      
   At Urban Independent Pharmacy, Hollier had large amounts of hydrocodone and   
   alprazolam in pre-filled bottles ready each day to handle the large group of   
   dealers and their patients from PWC and other clinics.  Dealers would furnish   
   the money to pay for    
   the narcotics, and at times, they paid Hollier directly for multiple patients'   
   prescriptions.  After Hollier filled the prescriptions, the patients would   
   give the dealers the pills, which they sold on the street for a profit.   
      
   Padron is currently serving a 57-month federal prison sentence following his   
   guilty plea in September 2013, in a separate and unrelated case, to conspiracy   
   to commit health care fraud.  That conviction stems from his role as the   
   medical director of A    
   Medical House Calls, a physician house-call company that provided physician   
   visits to Medicare beneficiaries in their homes, rather than in a doctor's   
   office.  Dr. Padron was also ordered to pay nearly $9.5 million in restitution   
   to the Centers for    
   Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Today's sentence will run consecutive   
   to that sentence, for a total sentence of 144 months in federal prison.   
      
   A total of 17 defendants have been convicted in this "pill mill" case.  With   
   today's sentencings, all but two defendants, Martinez and Burkins, remain to   
   be sentenced.  A total of 14 "dealers" were convicted in the case.   
      
      
   http://starlocalmedia.com/rowlettlakeshoretimes/garland-doctor-o   
   her-dealers-sentenced-in-dallas-pill-mill-case/article_d53be5fc-   
   fbc-11e4-9186-af37156f06a3.html   
      
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