TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami Field Division today arrested a doctor and two office managers on charges related to operating a pill mill. According to a lengthy undercover investigation, Dr. Armando Falcon owned and operated Pain Center of Cutler Bay, a pain management clinic in South Florida, as a cover to illegally sell large quantities of prescription pain killers.
The investigation revealed that Dr. Falcon met with patients for less than two minutes before writing prescriptions for approximately 150, 30 mg, oxycodone pills. Dr. Falcon only accepted cash payments, saw between 20 to 25 patients a day and earned more than a million dollars a year from this illegal activity. According to bank records obtained during the investigation, Dr. Falcon used the cash proceeds from the clinic to purchase beach apartments, boats, expensive cars and houses.
Authorities also arrested two of the clinics office managers, Claudia Centeno and Reveka Karagianni, in connection to the illegal prescription drug sales. According to the investigation, Centeno and Karagianni printed prescriptions for large quantities of oxycodone usually before Dr. Falcon arrived at work—in an effort to expedite the process.
Each defendant faces charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, trafficking oxycodone, money laundering, continuing a criminal enterprise, and structuring transactions to evade reporting.
As part of the investigation, the DEA conducted 16 undercover visits to the clinic. The Miami Dade Police Department assisted with the arrests and investigation. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute the defendants.
