Feds: Philly 'pill-mill' doc worked with Pagans
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IN JANUARY, the feds announced charges against a local doctor, accusing him of running a "pill mill" and doling out fake painkiller prescriptions in exchange for cash and sex.
Now, it turns out that William O'Brien III, 50, a doctor of osteopathic medicine with offices in Northeast and South Philadelphia and in Bucks County, allegedly conspired with members of the outlaw Pagans Motorcycle Club to illegally sell the drugs.
In a superseding indictment unsealed yesterday, the feds added nine additional defendants to the "pill-mill" case, making for a total of 11 defendants.
Initially charged along with O'Brien in January was his receptionist, Angela Rongione, 30.
O'Brien, a former candidate for Bucks County coroner, was arrested in January. He remains in the federal prison in Philadelphia.
Of the new defendants, five were members or associates of the Pagans outlaw motorcycle gang, which has a history of violence and drug-dealing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Those five are:
* Michael Thompson, 49, a/k/a "Mikey" or "Tomato Pie";
* Peter Marrandino, 48, a/k/a "Petey Adams" or "Nose";
* Joseph Mehl, 48, a/k/a "Joseph Montanero";
* Joseph Mitchell Sr., 39;
* Patrick Treacy, 48, a/k/a "Redneck."
Another new defendant in the case is O'Brien's ex-wife, Elizabeth Hibbs, 54, who is accused of helping him launder money and commit bankruptcy fraud.
The 88-page, 139-count superseding indictment charges the defendants, except Hibbs, with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The indictment also charges O'Brien with one count of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death.
It alleges that around Dec. 17, 2013, O'Brien, in his Levittown office, distributed for no legitimate medical purpose about 120 oxycodone pills and about 60 methadone pills to a person whose name was not disclosed in the indictment.
O'Brien at some point also prescribed 540 pills of cyclobenzaprine, a muscle-relaxant known as Flexeril, to this person, who died from the combined use of the pills, the indictment alleges.
The conspiracy with the Pagans members and associates began around March 2012 and lasted until about January, when O'Brien was arrested, the indictment alleges.
It alleges that O'Brien dispensed and his co-conspirators obtained for resale about 378,900 oxycodone pills and about 160,500 methadone pills, and that the estimated street value of the drugs sold was about $5 million.
O'Brien received about $2 million in cash proceeds from the alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy, the feds allege.
According to the indictment, around March 2012, Mehl, a tow-truck driver, referred people involved in auto accidents to O'Brien in exchange for prescriptions for controlled substances that Mehl did not need.
Mehl then allegedly introduced O'Brien to a now-deceased Pagans member identified in the indictment as "S.N." O'Brien and S.N. developed a scheme in which so-called patients obtained medically unnecessary prescriptions for controlled substances from O'Brien in exchange for cash, the indictment says.
The "patients" then turned the pills over to S.N. and others, who sold them to drug dealers, the indictment says.
Mehl recruited dancers from strip clubs, including the Oasis gentlemen's club in Southwest Philadelphia, which Pagans members frequented, to obtain prescriptions from O'Brien, the indictment says.
O'Brien would offer the prescriptions in exchange for sex, the feds contend.
As an example of how "patients" regularly got prescriptions for large quantities of pills for resale, the indictment said that Treacy "mockingly reported on the medical history form for his initial visit with [O'Brien] that he had been pregnant 'lots' of times; that he was menstruating; and that recently he had a 'PAP' test, which screens for cervical cancer."
All that didn't stop O'Brien from prescribing him 240 oxycodone and 60 Xanax pills in his first visit, the indictment says.
The indictment also names three defendants as participating in the scheme: Charles Johnson, 46; Frank Corazo Jr., 52, a/k/a "Stalker"; and Jennifer Lynn Chambers, 21, Treacy's girlfriend.
In a related conspiracy, the feds allege that O'Brien, with Rongione's aid, sold prescriptions for oxycodone and Xanax to customers for no legitimate medical purpose, charging about $250 in cash for a first appointment and about $200 in cash for follow-ups from around July 2012, when Rongione was hired, to around January 2015.
O'Brien operated a solo practice under the name Dr. Bill O'Brien, LLC, with locations on Broad Street near Bigler in South Philly; on Bustleton Avenue near Norwalk Road in Bustleton; in Trevose and in Levittown.
O'Brien's attorney, Gregory Pagano, did not return a call from the Daily News yesterday.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Read more at
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/201507...7vDzGrig8PJE.99
