Philadelphia-Area Doctors Arrested In 'Massive' Pill Mill Bust

PHILADELPHIA — Two Philadelphia-area doctors have been charged after running what authorities are calling a "massive" illegal prescription operation in Northwest Philadelphia and Montgomery County, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday.

Emmanuel Okolo and Mohanad Faloouh, whose Carriage House Medical Group is located in Flourtown, Montgomery County, have both been arrested. In addition to other individuals, Evelyn Smith and Kent Hunter, are also in custody on charges related to delivering the drugs, according to a newly released grand jury presentment.

Okolo wrote 586 illegal prescriptions of the addictive opioid between Jan. 2015 and Sept. 2017, and Fallouh wrote 423., according to authorities.

Okolo and Fallouh either never saw the patients only saw them rarely, the presentment states. All told, 85,000 tablets of oxycodone, with a street value of $2 million, were sold, authorities said.

The prescriptions were filled around the area, including in parts of Northwest Philadelphia, Lansdale, and Skippack.

“These doctors prescribed tens of thousands of oxycodone pills without a medically legitimate purpose,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement. “They stole personal identification and used it to run their illegal pill mill at taxpayer expense."

The charges are the result of a two-year investigation organized by the Office of the Attorney General's medicaid fraud section. Charges include corrupt organizations, violations of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act, Medicaid fraud, criminal conspiracy, and related counts.

Preliminary hearings are forthcoming.

Story by Justin Heinze