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December 15, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Doctor Indicted for
Conspiracy to Distribute Painkillers

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA - A 45-year old doctor who practiced medicine in Florida and South Carolina has been indicted for allegedly supplying excessive amounts of prescription pain medication to individuals for non-legitimate medical reasons.
United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II announced that DOUGLAS PAUL BRODERICK, M.D., of New Jersey, was charged by a federal grand jury with the felony offense of “Conspiracy to Distribute Schedule II Controlled Substances.” BRODERICK is alleged to have supplied large quantities of painkillers to his customers for no legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Many of his customers traveled long distances to see BRODERICK and receive their medication. BRODERICK’s businesses - Liberty Medical Group in Jacksonville, Florida and Respectable Medical in Rock Hill, South Carolina - only accepted cash, and would not accept credit cards, checks, or any form of insurance. His clinics also had their own in-house pharmacies from which they dispensed and sold pills. BRODERICK is believed to have practiced as an OB-GYN before recently switching to a pain management practice.

Many of BRODERICK’s customers were prescribed Oxycodone, which is a highly addictive Schedule II Controlled substance, is among the most frequently abused prescription drugs, and is frequently illegally distributed as a “street drug” due to its high illegal street market value. Some of the individuals to whom he prescribed were from the Ohio Valley and after receiving their prescriptions they returned to West Virginia and Ohio and sold the pills for a profit. Those individuals have also been indicted, and many of them have already reached plea agreements.

“In all of our drug investigations we try to move up the chain and identify the source of supply, and this case was no different, except that the source happened to be a medical doctor,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld. “We believe that there are other physicians with culpability in this matter and we will use all of our resources to make sure that they are also held accountable.”

In addition to BRODERICK, two other people were added to the list of defendants in the second superceding indictment returned this week by the grand jury: JACK ADKINS, 42 of Moundsville, WV, and JOHN BURRESS, also known as “J.B.”, 39 of Martins Ferry, Ohio.
BRODERICK was arrested last night in New Jersey by federal and state agents on the federal indictment as well as unrelated state charges and is scheduled to appear before Federal Magistrate Judge James Seibert in Wheeling, WV, on December 22, 2011, at 10:00 A.M. ADKINS was arrested today and had his Initial Appearance today before Magistrate Judge James E. Seibert. He is free on bond pending his arraignment on December 22, 2011.

“By allegedly peddling prescription drugs to those not in medical need, Dr. Broderick is no better than a common street dealer,” stated Ava A. Cooper-Davis, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge. “In many aspects his alleged actions are worse, as he has betrayed his oath to "do no harm" and endangered the community.”

The second superseding indictment alleges that the defendants were involved in a large conspiracy to distribute prescription pain medication throughout the Ohio Valley from February 2010 to March 26, 2011. As part of the conspiracy, many of the defendants allegedly engaged in “doctor shopping” in Daytona Beach, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; West Palm Beach, Florida; and Rock Hill, South Carolina, where they obtained Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone, for non-legitimate medical purposes which they subsequently distributed in the Northern District of West Virginia and elsewhere for profit.

The new indictment also alleges that in furtherance of the conspiracy, the defendants and others distributed at least 100,000 pills with an illegal street value in excess of $3,000,000.

The new indictment also includes charges of conspiracy to engage in interstate travel in aid of racketeering; aiding and abetting interstate travel in aid of racketeering; conspiracy to launder money; money laundering; using the telephone to distribute drugs; engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity; distribution of controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a playground; possession with intent to distribute; and maintaining a drug-involved premise.

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld and Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the West Virginia State Police-Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, the Moundsville Police Department, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, the Martins Ferry Police Department, the Volusia Bureau of Investigations - Central Florida HIDTA, and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Orlando, Florida. The Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crime Task Force consists of the Wheeling Police Department, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

If convicted, BRODERICK faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $1,000,000.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.