The United States Attorney's Office

Southern District of Florida

 

 

 

 

 

Public Affairs Office:

Alicia Valle
Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney
(305) 961-9153

Yovanny Lopez
Public Affairs Specialist
(305) 961-9316

Public Affairs Fax
(305) 530-7055

Press Release

 

SEVEN DEFENDANTS INDICTED ON CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY TO POSSESS AND INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE OXYCODONE AND OTHER CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES

October 26, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Douglas Colon, Special Agent in Charge, Atlanta Region, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and Al Lamberti, Acting Sheriff, Broward Sheriff’s Office, announce today the unsealing of a three-count Indictment charging defendants James Modica, Marc Brainger, David William Brock, Donald Louis Colbert, Jr., James Mitchell, David Herman, and Lawrence Goldstein with conspiracy to possess oxycodone and other controlled substances with intent to distribute, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, and possession of oxycodone and other controlled substances with intent to distribute, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841. If convicted, each of the defendants faces a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years and fines of up to $2,000,000.

According to the Indictment, from approximately January 2005, defendant James Modica led an oxycodone distribution ring. Modica and others would recruit patients to visit various doctors’ offices in South Florida to obtain prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled substances. Modica would advise co-conspirators on what they should say to be the physicians in order to obtain prescriptions for the largest possible amount of oxycodone. Modica would provide money to co-conspirators to pay the fees for the medical examinations and/or the filling of the prescriptions. The defendants allegedly would go to several doctors each month to obtain prescriptions for as many controlled substance pills as possible. Through this scheme, the defendants received a total of more than 150,000 pills during the conspiracy. Defendant Modica would distribute the oxycodone and other controlled substances outside the State of Florida, including to defendant David Brock in Massachusetts.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office for their work on this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey N. Kaplan and Paul Schwartz.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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