Three Detroit doctors charged as part of $5 million illegal prescription drug operation
Indictment alleges doctors were part of illegal operation that distributed a million pills, grossed more than five million dollars, authorities say.
Three doctors and seven other people have been charged in connection with an alleged illegal operation that authorities said distributed roughly a million pills and grossed roughly $5.7 million, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Thursday after the indictment was unsealed earlier that day.
The defendants include: Dr. Boris Zigmond, D.C., 50, of West Bloomfield; Dr. Jennifer Franklin, M.D., 39, of Harrison Township; and Dr. Carlos Godoy, M.D., 78, of Farmington Hills.
Also charged were Rodney Knight, 32, of Highland Park; Tara Marcia Jackson, 53, of Detroit; Sashanti Morris, 44, of Detroit; Anna Fradlis, 61, of West Bloomfield; Maryna Pitsenko, 46, of Sterling Heights; Svetlana Sribna, 64, of Sterling Heights and Marina Jacobs, 44, of West Bloomfield.
According to the Department of Justice, the indictment describes a scheme spanning more than two years, from January 2013 through May 2015, in which Dr. Zigmond allegedly served as the operation's leader. They called the scheme a "large-scale prescription drug trafficking organization whose purpose was to secure written prescriptions from medical doctors for controlled substances, primarily Roxicodone, and its generic equivalent Oxycodone, that could be filled at various pharmacies." The indictment alleges that the prescriptions were drafted outside the scope of medical practice and were not legitimate, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
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Authorities also said the defendants weaved a complicated web of fake service to patients, alleging Dr. Zigmond, a chiropractor, never actually saw patients himself or wrote prescriptions. Instead, they said he employed Rodney Knight, Tara Jackson and Sashanti Morris as "marketers" or "patient recruiters" who would pay him money directly or to his assistants, co-defendants Anna Fradlis, Maryna Pitsenko, Svetlana Sribna and Marina Jacobs. These individuals would then schedule appointments with co-defendants Dr. Franklin and Dr. Godoy. The Department of Justice also said each appointment cost $500-$600 cash and the "marketer" paid the money before a phony patient was seen by either Franklin or Godoy.
Zigmond allegedly operated office suites in different locations around Oak Park, where Franklin and Godoy saw fake patients and wrote the fraudulent prescriptions. Authorities said Zigmond paid Franklin, Godoy, Fradlis, Pitsenko, Sribna and Jacobs.
All ten defendants have been charged with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs. The case was investigated jointly by special agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne Pratt and Jonathan Grey.
