Our readers in Broward County may have seen headlines about the owners of a pain management clinic in Pompano Beach who were recently arrested and charged with a number of crimes. The husband and wife live in Coral Springs, and they are now facing allegations of racketeering, prescription drug trafficking and money laundering.
Authorities claim that employees of the clinic would fill prescriptions through mail order but then charge their customers double and triple the cost. Police say that two recipients of these prescriptions died from overdoses. The husband and wife have reportedly been under investigation by the Broward Sheriff’s Office for about a year.
The police also claim to have found a false wall in the couple’s residence. This secret hiding place was said to have contained $400,000 in cash and approximately 80 guns, some of which the police say were illegally owned. However, the wife said that all of the guns are registered and legal, and that they were purchased because her husband is a gun collector.
Investigators are now trying to make a connection between the couple and organized crime. Authorities claim the husband and wife protected their clinic by hiring two armed guards and used a device to determine if the clinic’s telephones were being tapped. The accused deny any connection to organized crime.
Florida residents likely already know that drug charges are aggressively prosecuted in our state, and being convicted of such a crime can carry serious consequences such as jail time and heavy fines. Individuals who are facing such charges would be wise to explore every legal option for calling the prosecution’s claims into question.
Source: CBS Miami, “Bond Set For Couple Charged In Pain Clinic Raid,” June 13, 2012
