Clearwater Doctor Accused Of Selling 100s Of Narcotics Prescriptions

CLEARWATER, FL — A 62-year-old Clearwater doctor has been arrested after being accused of selling more than 550 illegal prescriptions for codeine cough syrup and hundreds of prescriptions for oxycodone to drug addicts, according to the Pinellas sheriff's office.

On May 11, detectives from the narcotics division received tips from "multiple sources" that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal, an infectious disease doctor who lives on Gulf Boulevard in Redington Shores and has an office on Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, has been selling prescriptions to drug addicts since January, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office news release.

During the investigation, detectives said Uppal prescribed both promethazine codeine syrup and oxycodone to undercover detectives without ever seeing, examining or speaking to them.

Detectives said they received the prescriptions after paying $650 cash for each promethazine codeine syrup prescription and $450 cash for each oxycodone prescription.

According to the Florida Department of Health, Uppal is on probationary status for her medical license.

On Tuesday, detectives served a search warrant at Uppal’s business and home, where she does most of her illegal business, detectives said. While detectives were at Uppal’s home, two people arrived to pick up fraudulent prescriptions.

During the search, detectives recovered multiple prescription pads, handwritten ledgers, prescriptions filled out with a variety of patients' names, $1,906,483 in cash and jewelry and gold bars valued at $175.

Uppal was charged with three counts of trafficking in codeine and three counts of trafficking in oxycodone.

The Drug Enforcement Administration was also on hand at the arrest to serve Uppal with a civil injunction from the federal court to revoke her ability to prescribe any more medication.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber granted the temporary restraining order in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, which accuses Uppal of illegally writing opioid prescriptions in the names of individuals depicted in photographs of driver’s licenses she received via text messages from a third party in exchange for payment for the prescriptions.

“It is unlawful for a physician to write opioid prescriptions for individuals they have never met and then sell those prescriptions to a third party,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will use every enforcement tool available under the Controlled Substances Act to protect our communities from rogue medical professionals.”

“The illegal distribution and use of opioids have led to a nationwide epidemic,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “Physicians who prescribe these dangerous drugs without legitimate medical cause violate not only the law, but also their oath to do no harm.”

“At a time when we need to be doing all that we can to prevent drug misuse and overdoses, DEA will not tolerate doctors who knowingly break the law, jeopardizing the safety and health of our communities by recklessly prescribing controlled substances,” said DEA Miami Field Division Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter. “DEA will continue working with our law-enforcement partners to pursue cases against anyone contributing to the deadly overdose epidemic in this country.”

DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad in the Tampa District Office is conducting the ongoing investigation.

Uppal is being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $1,050,000 bail.