Pasco Doctor, Pharmacy Accused Of Illegally Prescribing Opioids

PORT RICHEY, FL — The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint to prevent the owners of a Port Richey health clinic and a Hudson pharmacy from illegally prescribing and filling opioid prescriptions.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Friday, the DOJ accused Dr. Tobias Bacaner, Theodore Ferguson II and Timothy Ferguson of using Paragon Community Healthcare Inc. at 6131 U.S. 19, Port Richey, to illegally give out prescriptions for opioids, and Cobalt Pharmacy Inc., 7135 State Road 52, Hudson, for illegally filling them.

The complaint says the defendants ignored obvious signs of opioid abuse when issuing and filling opioid prescriptions. As a result, several people died of overdoses.

According to the complaint, Bacaner, a medical doctor licensed in Florida, wrote prescriptions for potent and dangerous opioids outside the usual course of his professional practice through Paragon Community Healthcare, a cash-only pain clinic owned by the Fergusons. The patients from Paragon were then directed to have them filled at obalt Pharmacy, which is jointly owned by the three men.

The complaint seeks civil penalties as well as a permanent injunction against the men.

“The illicit proliferation and abuse of opioids, by any means, remains a growing threat to communities across the country,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. “When these means include the breach of trust and illegal conduct of medical professionals for profit, it is even more disturbing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with its partners to investigate and prosecute those who violate their oath and put the public at risk.”

“DEA will not tolerate individuals who seek to profit from addiction and prey on vulnerable populations,” said Acting Administrator D. Christopher Evans of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “We will use every tool at our disposal to stop and bring to justice those who willfully endanger others and exacerbate the opioid epidemic.”

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