Nurse-Practitioner Found Guilty of Federal Charges for Illegally Distributing Oxycodone and Money Laundering

            WASHINGTON - Ivan Lamont Robinson, a licensed nurse practitioner who was based in Southeast Washington, was found guilty by a jury today of 42 federal charges that he distributed oxycodone outside the legitimate scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, and two counts of money laundering.

            The guilty verdicts were announced by U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Division Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Nicholas DiGiulio, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), for the region that includes Washington, D.C.; Robert E. Craig, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Mid-Atlantic Field Office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The trial began July 10, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in the courtroom of the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. Following today’s verdict, Robinson, 46, of Washington, D.C., was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. His sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

            According to the government’s evidence, Robinson conducted a pain management practice from 2011 until 2013 in the 2000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. His practice received numerous complaints from pharmacists who suspected that he was operating a “pill mill” rather than a medical pain management practice. “Pill mill” is a shorthand terminology for a medical practice which begins selling prescriptions to customers, usually for cash.

            Through his position as a nurse practitioner, under District of Columbia law, Robinson had authority to prescribe oxycodone to patients. Robinson sold prescriptions to customers in exchange for $370 in blank money orders. Customers came from outside the District of Columbia to purchase identical prescriptions, 60 tablets of 30 milligrams of oxycodone. Law enforcement executed numerous search warrants involving his practice on June 19, 2013. After a meeting with officials of the DEA, Robinson voluntarily relinquished his DEA license, which had authorized him to write prescriptions for controlled substances.

            During the trial, the government presented testimony from a medical expert who stated that Robinson provided no real medical treatment, and there was no medical basis to prescribe oxycodone. Further, the government’s evidence showed that Robinson deposited over $100,000 in money orders from customers during a four-month period in 2013. With these illegal proceeds, the government showed that Robinson purchased a brand new Volvo automobile and, during the execution of the search warrants, that he withdrew $108,000. After returning the guilty verdicts, the jury also voted to forfeit Robinson’s $108,000 and the Volvo automobile that he had gained from his illegal pill mill practice.

            The case was investigated by the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration, Metropolitan Police Department, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John P. Dominguez and Dineen A. Baker. Assistance was provided by Paralegal Specialists Jeannette Litz and Rommel Pachoca and Legal Assistants Kate Abrey and Holly Crouse. Trial assistance was also provided by Arvind K. Lal, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Scarpelli, Nancy Jackson, Kara Traster, Zia M. Faruqui, and Christopher B. Brown; Victim/ Witness Assistance Unit Specialist Tonya Jones, and Interns Cloyd Smith, Jennifer Newman, Maria Thompson and Leila Bartholet.