Narcotics investigators have raided three South Florida pain clinics suspected of feeding a black-market pipeline of prescription painkillers stretching to Kentucky and other Appalachian states.
Agents with the DEA, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office carted away boxes of records after serving search warrants at American Pain in Lake Worth, Executive Pain in West Palm Beach and the East Coast Pain Clinic in West Palm Beach on Wednesday morning.
The clinics are owned or managed by Christopher and Jeffrey George, 29-year-old twin brothers from Royal Palm Beach. Neither one is a licensed medical professional. Both have criminal records.
What sort of patent-leather regulatory authority allows thugs like this to run medical clinics?
The Miami Herald highlighted the George brothers in an investigation of the pain clinic business published last year. The Herald investigation showed that loose regulations have made South Florida a haven for storefront clinics selling oxycodone and other painkillers at a pace unseen anywhere else in the country.
Several sheriffs in Kentucky — a prime hot spot for illegal painkillers — told The Herald they routinely arrested people trafficking oxycodone bought from a Wilton Manors clinic called South Florida Pain, also owned by Christopher George, records show. South Florida Pain later merged with American Pain in Boca Raton, and then relocated to Lake Worth…
The George brothers have run afoul of law enforcement before. In 2003, Jeffrey George pleaded guilty to felony charges of dealing in stolen property and resisting arrest, records show. Christopher George also pleaded guilty to grand theft and possession of steroids with intent to sell, records show.
Their criminal pasts, however, did not prevent the Georges from owning or managing pain clinics selling dangerous narcotics — a loophole some lawmakers hope to close during the legislative session.
Under current law, the state licenses only medical facilities that take insurance — and most pain clinics only take cash. So while the state requires criminal background checks for employees at licensed facilities, there is no such requirement at cash-only pain clinics.
Sounds like the Florida legislature is willingly incompetent. Ready and able to comply with the demands of gangsters at a moment’s notice. Until someone gets caught.