Texas Doctor Convicted of Distributing Over 1 Million Pills

There is a Texas doctor who has now been convicted of illegally distributing more than a million pills. According to the United States Department of Justice website, the Texas physician was convicted of unlawfully distributing more than a million pills of opioids and other dangerous controlled substances.

Details Behind the Texas Doctor’s Conviction

The court documents and evidence presented at trial show that 65-year-old Barbara Marino, M.D. of Tomball was the sole prescribing physician at Angels Clinica. At Angels Clinica, Marino was prescribing the highly addictive opioids oxycodone and hydrocodone and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol.

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How the Operation Worked

Many of the patients who received prescriptions from Marino were brought to the facility by street-level drug dealers. The prescriptions were filled by local pharmacies and then the pills were sold on the streets. Angels Clinica was a cash-only clinic, charging people based on what drug Marino would prescribe to them. More than 99% of the time Marino would prescribe the strongest short-acting versions of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol.

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Charges and Possible Prison Sentence

The jury convicted Marino of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and four counts of distributing a controlled substance. Marino is facing a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

If you want to see the press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, click here.

We want to thank all law enforcement agencies who worked to stop the distribution of these opioids and other dangerous controlled substances within the Lone Star State.