Lino Cueto Montilla, Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises, Virginia 2024

Annandale Doctor Guilty of Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Lino Cueto Montilla, a 57-year-old Annandale doctor, pleaded guilty today to maintaining a drug-involved premises.

Court documents reveal that Montilla, who was licensed to practice medicine in 1995, worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) with Fairfax Ob-Gyn Associates from 1999 to 2015. During this time, he rarely prescribed Schedule II pain medication to his patients.

In January 2016, Montilla began treating patients at Fairfax Pain Clinic (FPC), which specialized in pain management. From January 2016 through September 2020, Montilla was the primary doctor prescribing Schedule II controlled substances at FPC.

FPC was only open during the morning on two days per week. During an approximate three-hour period on those days, Montilla would see and prescribe opioids to approximately 20 patients, spending, on average, less than 10 minutes with each patient. Despite conducting only cursory exams of patients, Montilla prescribed excessively high amounts of opioids to many of these patients for years.

Montilla prescribed high opioid dosing without first confirming diagnoses, performing relevant medical examinations, or reviewing prior medical records, which were relevant and necessary steps when prescribing such high opioid dosages. Montilla rarely ordered his patients to seek physical therapy or any other treatment for their chronic pain. Montilla maintained very limited documentation in the patient files, including failing to document his reasons for prescribing high opioid dosages.

Montilla is scheduled to be sentenced on August 9. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The investigation was led by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division. U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jack Morgan and Zoe Bedell are prosecuting the case.

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