Saad Sakkal, Opioid Prescription Mill Operation, Ohio 2019

Hamilton physician Dr. Saad Sakkal, 72, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison today for running a deadly opioid mill out of Lindenwald Medical Association, Inc. The verdict caps a years-long federal investigation into a prescription racket that fed addiction, overdose, and death across southwest Ohio. Sakkal was convicted at trial in April 2019 on 30 counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances and six counts of using another doctor’s registration number.

Federal prosecutors laid bare a pattern of reckless greed during trial, showing Sakkal conducted sham physical exams—if any at all—and pumped out dangerous drug cocktails laced with fentanyl, oxycodone, and benzodiazepines. Patients walked in complaining of pain; Sakkal handed them prescriptions without scrutiny. Evidence showed he ignored red flags from staff, pharmacists, and even electronic monitoring systems designed to prevent abuse.

Pharmacists testified they repeatedly refused to fill Sakkal’s prescriptions, warning him the doses were lethal. One colleague flagged patient overdoses tied to his scripts. The warnings didn’t stop him. Instead, Sakkal forged ahead, treating human lives like cash registers, raking in profits while Ohio burned through an opioid epidemic. At least one patient died in 2016 from drugs Sakkal prescribed.

“Sakkal issued deadly drug cocktails without regard for the repeated warnings he received from employees, patients, pharmacists, another doctor, and the electronic records system,” said U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers. “This doctor dealer even ignored overdoses by his patients. Instead of helping his patients, he caused more harm, and as a result, he earned spending the next few decades in federal prison.”

Indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2018, Sakkal was arrested in Florida and has been locked up without bond ever since. Investigators from the DEA, HHS Office of Inspector General, Ohio State Medical Board, and Ohio Board of Pharmacy built the case over months of surveillance, prescription audits, and witness interviews. The State Medical Board had previously flagged Sakkal for erratic prescribing, but criminal charges only came after lives were lost.

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett handed down the 20-year sentence, calling Sakkal’s actions a betrayal of the Hippocratic Oath and a criminal enterprise disguised as medicine. Assistant Deputy Criminal Chief Timothy S. Mangan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Oakley prosecuted the case. Sakkal now begins a prison term that ensures he’ll be 92 before seeing freedom again—if he survives.”

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