LONDON - The owner of two out-of-state pain clinics, where hundreds of thousands of prescription pills were unlawfully distributed to thousands of Kentuckians, has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
On Thursday, May 28, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar sentenced Joel Shumrak, 67, for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and alprazolam and laundering money. Shumrak will also forfeit $7 million in proceeds from the drug conspiracy, which he laundered through various banks, including several off-shore banks. Under federal law, he must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.
Beginning around June of 2008, and continuing until June of 2014, thousands of Kentuckians, from Clay, Laurel, Rockcastle, Pulaski, Floyd, Knox, Bell, Pike, Jefferson, Whitley, Madison, Montgomery, Fayette, Magoffin and other Kentucky Counties, travelled to Shumrak’s pain clinics, located in Tucker, Ga., and Broward, Fla., almost daily, to unlawfully obtain prescription pills without a legitimate medical need. Shumrak admitted that his clinics catered to out-of-state patients and that these individuals received little to no physical examinations or other medical treatment before obtaining the drugs. Shumrak further admitted that he was aware that many of these Kentucky patients distributed the drugs upon their return to the Commonwealth.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Joseph Reagan, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Detroit Field Division; A.D. Wright, Acting Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Miami Field Division; and Daniel Salter, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Atlanta Field Division, jointly made the announcement.
The investigation was conducted by the DEA in Kentucky, Georgia, Florida and Ohio. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Dotson prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
