Pasco Pain Clinic, Pharmacy Accused Of Providing Unnecessary Opioids

PORT RICHEY, FL — A federal court has ordered a Port Richey pain management clinic to close and the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties for violations of the Controlled Substances Act, according to the Department of Justice.

In a complaint filed in February 2021, the justice department accused Dr. Tobias Bacaner of writing prescriptions for opioids without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice while employed at Paragon Community Healthcare, a pain clinic at 6131 U.S. 19, Port Richey.

The complaint alleged that Paragon’s owners, Theodore Ferguson II and Timothy Ferguson, managed the clinic’s operations and profited from the unlawful prescribing while ignoring obvious signs of drug abuse. The complaint further accused Bacaner and the Fergusons of using their jointly owned pharmacy, Cobalt Pharmacy at 7135 State Road 52, Hudson, to unlawfully fill prescriptions issued at Paragon without scrutiny.

The order against Bacaner requires him to pay $500,000 in civil penalties and prohibits him from prescribing, administering, dispensing or distributing controlled substances, among other restrictions.

The order against the Fergusons and Paragon requires them to jointly pay $100,000 in civil penalties. It also requires Paragon to permanently close, and places restrictions on the Fergusons’ ability to own or work at entities that administer, dispense or distribute controlled substances in the future.

The defendants also agreed to permanently dissolve Cobalt Pharmacy, which closed shortly before the government filed suit.

“Physicians who prescribe opioids without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice and others who facilitate that conduct will be held accountable,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will continue to aggressively use all available enforcement remedies to prevent the unlawful diversion of potentially dangerous prescription drugs.”

“Dr. Bacaner and his associates profited from unlawfully prescribing opioids without a legitimate medical purpose,” said U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Roger B. Handberg. “We will continue to protect the community from those who place a higher value on profit than the safety of the public.”

U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington entered the consent decree in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Tuesday.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad in the Tampa District Office.