Written by: E. George
Published May 24, 2024 @ 9:00 PM ET
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – The discovery of a large-scale “pill mill” operation in metro Atlanta led to the arrests and sentencing of 13 individuals. The illegal business allegedly involved a practicing gynecologist, two pharmacists, and 10 drug distributors who all pleaded guilty to their accused crimes and received various sentences.
United States Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said Anthony Mills, M.D., obtained his license to practice gynecology in Georgia in 1997. Buchanan explained that Mills used his home to run a network where he sold “drug dealing sponsors” and substance addicts hundreds of fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances.
Officials said Mills wrote prescriptions for large quantities of drugs such as oxycodone for money since at least October 2018. He did not obtain prior medical records for his “patients,” require evaluations of them, or even meet them in person to provide them with prescriptions.
Reports indicated that multiple prescriptions donned the names of deceased or incarcerated individuals or those whose identities were stolen.
Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division Robert J. Murphy stated, “Pharmaceutical products that are distributed for non-medical reasons can be just as deadly as illicit drugs. Dr. Mills distributed vast quantities of pharmaceutical products and had total disregard for human life. The moment he decided to illegally distribute drugs, he became nothing more than a drug trafficker.”
Mills’ neighbors reported that he vacated his home and neighborhood following the raid of his house.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, numerous prescriptions were filled at Evansmill Pharmacy in Stonecrest and Retox Pharmacy in Conyers by 71-year-old pharmacist Raphael Ogunsusi, RPh. Aware that the prescriptions were illegal, Ogunsusi filled them anyway.
He allegedly accepted exorbitant amounts of cash for filling them, such as $500 for one prescription for Percocet and $900 for oxycodone. He knowingly charged “well over the market value” of legitimately obtained medications and ordered his “patients” to purchase extra, unnecessary, noncontrolled substances he referred to as “Shebang.”
The “Shebang” maximized his profits and hid the fact that the customers wanted to purchase just the medication. Ogunsusi also falsified prescription price information on store computer systems to appear to have been sold at market prices to conceal his tremendously inflated pricing.
He directed his employees, including one licensed pharmacist, to fill the fraudulent prescriptions, as well.
The accused individuals, which include numerous medication sponsors who obtained prescriptions, plead guilty to the listed charges and received the following sentences from U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II:
