MAY 2 p 2015

KSC: USAO# 2015R00356

ATBA 44:4

 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

RIMINAL NO. ALEX MORI, and

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess

THOMAS DALTON,

ith Intent to Distribute Oxycodone, 21

U.S.C. § 846)

Defendants. .oOo. INDICTMENT COUNT ONE

The Grand Jury for the District of Maryland charges that:

Introduction

1.

Beginning in or about November 2013 through in or about May 2015, Defendants

ALEX MORI and THOMAS DALTON owned and operated First Priority Heath Care, LLC

( First Priority ), located at 8176 Lark Brown Road Suite 101, Elkridge, Maryland, a purported

pain management clinic located within the District of Maryland. In reality, First Priority operated

as a pill mill. A pill mill is a physician's office, clinic, or health care facility that routinely

engages in the practice of prescribing and dispensing controlled substances outside the scope of

professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. In July 2013, First Priority Health Care was incorporated in Delaware.

2.

In or about November 2013 MORI and DALTON hired NURSE

PRACTITIONER 1 to serve as the prescriber at First Priority. In or about December 2014, MORI

and DALTON hired DOCTOR 1 to serve as the prescribing physician at First Priority, and entered

into a one-year contract with DOCTOR 1.

 

3.

Defendant MORI funded First Priority and assisted with the day-to-day operations,

and defendant DALTON ran the day-to-day operations at First Priority. They hired and

supervised employees, and approved and directed financial transactions on behalf of the company.

They also divided the profits from the businesses. CO-CONSPIRATOR 1 worked as the office

manager/receptionist at First Priority. NURSE PRACTITIONER 1 was the prescriber at First

Priority until August 2014. DOCTOR 1 has been the prescribing physician at First Priority since December 2014.

4.

MORI and DALTON both worked to recruit distributors and runners to visit First Priority so that they would profit from the cash fees charged for an office visit. A runner is

an individual who is recruited by a distributor to enter pill mill clinics with fictitious complaints of pain in order to obtain prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances, primarily oxycodone. Runners typically then filled the prescription and gave the oxycodone tablets they received to the

distributor. Runners were typically paid in either cash or oxycodone tablets for their services.

The distributors then generally sold the pills for a profit.

5.

MORI and DALTON also bought and sold oxycodone pills for a profit, including to and from those runners and distributors who obtained prescriptions from First Priority.

Controlled Substances — General Terminology

6. The Controlled Substances Act governs the manufacture, distribution, and

dispensing of controlled substances in the United States, including narcotics that are prescribed by

physicians and other licensed health care providers. The Controlled Substances Act and its

implementing regulations set forth which drugs and other substances are controlled substances.

Controlled substances are assigned to one of five schedules, Schedule

I II III

IV, or V, depending -2-

 

on their potential for abuse, likelihood of physical or psychological dependency, accepted medical use, and accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

7.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1), provides that [e]xcept as

authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally

. . . manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or

dispense, a controlled substance.

8.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(10), provides that the term dispense

meant to deliver a controlled substance to an ultimate user . . . by, or pursuant to the lawful order

of, a practitioner, including the prescribing and administering of a controlled substance and the

packaging, labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for such delivery.

9.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(11), provides that the term distribute means to deliver (other than by administering or dispensing) a controlled substance or a listed chemical.

10.

Title 21, United States Code, Section 802(21) provides that the term practitioner

means a physician . . . or other person licensed, registered, or otherwise peimitted . . . to

distribute [or] dispense . . . a controlled substance in the course of professional practice.

11.

Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1306.04, provides, among other things, that a prescription for a controlled substance is valid if it is prescribed for a legitimate

medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of his professional

practice. Moreover, an order purporting to be a prescription issued not in the usual course of

professional treatment or in legitimate and authorized research is not a valid prescription within the meaning and intent of Title 21, United States Code, Section 829, and the person knowingly

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