Miami, FL – Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, and Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division, recently announced that Dr. Scott Becker, 54, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, was sentenced yesterday to 70 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Dr. Becker previously pled guilty to conspiring to distribute and dispense large amounts of oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Dr. Becker also pled guilty to money laundering.
According to court documents, Becker agreed to forfeit $470,400 in money and property representing the illegal narcotics proceeds he earned as a result of his involvement as a physician at All Pain Management in Dania Beach. Between February 16 and September 17, 2010, Becker was employed as a clinic doctor at All Pain Management which, at the time, was owned by co-conspirators Vincent Colangelo and several other unnamed individuals. Colangelo pled guilty to narcotics, money laundering and federal income tax offenses on April 2, 2012, arising from his ownership of six pill mill clinics and a pharmacy in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. According to a review of medical records, while at All Pain Management, Becker prescribed 932,259 oxycodone, 30 milligram pills during the course of 4,821 patient visits and more than 98% of Becker’s patients received prescriptions for oxycodone. Becker also laundered approximately $24,142 in illegal narcotics proceeds.
This case is the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate, and prosecute high level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.
Mr. Ferrer thanked IRS-CI, DEA, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office, as well as the many other state and local agencies for their investigative work. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Behnke and Roger Powell and Tax Division Trial Attorney Greg Tortella.
Source: NY AG’s Office