Daniel Alexander, Conspiracy to Distribute Oxycodone, Maryland 2023

Baltimore, Maryland – In a case that highlights the dangers of 'pill mills,' Physician Daniel Alexander, 53, of Pikesville, Maryland, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to distribute oxycodone and alprazolam without a legitimate medical need.

Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake handed down the sentence, which also includes three years of supervised release and the forfeiture of $30,000. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, along with law enforcement officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Baltimore County Police Department, and Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office.

'Physician Daniel Alexander prescribed opioid drugs to people who had no medical need for the drugs,' said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. 'In doing so, he violated his medical oath and distributed misery instead of medicine. Pharmaceutical pills can be just as harmful as illegal drugs when they are prescribed without a legitimate medical purpose.'

According to his plea agreement and court documents, Alexander was hired in September 2011 by the owners of Healthy Life, a purported pain management clinic in Owings Mills, Maryland. The clinic later moved to a larger space in Timonium, Maryland, where it attracted large and unruly crowds. Over 80% of the clinic's customers were from out of state.

Alexander was paid $150 per hour for his services and received a total of $30,000 for his activities in the scheme. He issued prescriptions to 627 patients on 946 separate office visits, with 97% of those visits resulting in a prescription for oxycodone and 23% resulting in a prescription for alprazolam.

The owners of Healthy Life, Michael Resnick, Alina Margulis, and Gerald Wiseberg, established the standard operating procedures for the clinic, including which drugs the prescribing physician could prescribe and the maximum dosage amounts of these drugs. The clinic accepted cash payments in exchange for providing prescriptions for large amounts of oxycodone, alprazolam, and other drugs to customers who did not have a legitimate medical need.

In a few instances, Alexander prescribed oxycodone to customers who he simultaneously discharged from Healthy Life, based on indications they were abusing illicit drugs.

The investigation into Healthy Life was initiated by the Maryland Board of Physicians, which suspended the medical license of physician William Crittenden in August 2011 due to his prescribing practices.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/medical-director-pill-mill-sentenced-federal-prison-distributing-oxycodone-without