DALLAS - Fahim Ahmed Khan, 59, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced this morning for his involvement in a “pill mill" operation, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Specifically, Khan was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 51 months in federal prison. In addition to his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay a $17,500 fine. Khan pleaded guilty in August 2016 to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, namely oxycodone. Judge Fitzwater ordered Khan to report to serve his sentence on September 5, 2017.
Twenty-four individuals were indicted by a federal grand jury in Dallas in February 2015 on offenses related to their participation in the prescription drug distribution conspiracy. That indictment alleged that from at least January 2013 through July 2014, the defendants participated in a scheme to illicitly obtain prescriptions for pain medications, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, and then distribute those controlled substances for profit. As part of the conspiracy, individuals, often homeless or of limited means, were recruited and paid to pose as patients at medical clinics, including the McAllen Medical Clinic, to obtain prescriptions to fill those prescriptions at designated pharmacies.
Superseding indictments were returned in December 2015 and in January 2016, and a total of 26 individuals have now been convicted.
According to plea documents in Khan’s case, beginning in January 2013 and continuing through July 29, 2014, Khan, who has never been a licensed medical practitioner, has never held a DEA registration number, and has never been authorized to distribute or dispense oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, obtained oxycodone with the intent to distribute it at a later time.
Khan established relationships with medical professionals and clinic owners, including co-conspirators, Muhammad Faridi and Dr. Richard Andrews of McAllen Medical Clinic in Dallas, Texas, to assist in the illegal distribution of oxycodone. Khan also pursued relationships with prescription ring leaders and agreed to bring patients to clinics and assisted patients in obtaining prescriptions. Khan would then collected between $420 and $600 in cash from each patient who obtained a prescription for oxycodone. The money collected was then distributed among Faridi, Andrews, himself, and office staff.
This Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation is being conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Louisiana State Police, the Grand Prairie Police Department, the Dallas Police Department, the Houston Police Department, the Arlington Police Department, the Greenville Police Department, the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Diplomatic Security Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Walters is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
