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Feds charge doctors with oxycodone-related deaths
By Palm Beach Business.com
WEST PALM BEACH — Two doctors who were employed by a pill mill ring that operated in Palm Beach and Broward counties have been charged with illegally distributing drugs that led to the deaths of nine patients.
The two doctors, Cynthia Cadet, 42 of Parkland, and Joseph Castronuovo, 72 of Key Largo, were previously charged with racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, possession with intent to distribute and other charges in connection with the pill mill operation of Christopher and Jeffrey George, twin brothers from Palm Beach County.
The two face a maximum of life in federal prison for each death, if found guilty.
According to federal court documents, Cadet began working at American Pain, a clinic in Boca Raton, in December 2008, while Castronuovo began at Executive Pain in West Palm Beach the following year. The two doctors ordered more than 1.2 million oxycodone tablets while working at the two clinics, where they would prescribe narcotics and other substances to patients who had no medical need for the drugs. The doctors would give patients a brief examination to give the clinics an appearance of legitimacy.
According to the indictment, Cadet was responsible for the deaths of seven patients: Stacy Edward Mason, Stephen Andrew Wooten, Bobby Shane Romine, David Keith Coffman, Shawn Michael Harper, Alice Marie Moore and Patricia Marcus. All died from using oxycodone.
The indictment charges Castronuovo with the deaths of Tommy Wayne Harris and Michael Grant, both of whom died from oxycodone use. Castronuovo also was charged with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone to patients under the age of 21.
Cadet and Castronuovo are expected to be arraigned this week in West Palm Beach.
The charges stem from a federal, state and local investigation into pill mill businesses in South Florida called Operation Oxy Alley that resulted in the indictment of 32 people, 28 of whom have pleaded guilty, including the George brothers. Altogether, the pill mills sold 20 million oxycodone tablets, generating $40 million in revenue.
