Annapolis Pill Mill Doctor Sentenced Under MD Drug Kingpin Law

ANNAPOLIS, MD – An Annapolis doctor who ran a Glen Burnie pill mill was sentenced Friday for violating Maryland's drug kingpin statute. Dr. Kofi Shaw-Taylor, 68, was sentenced in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to two, five-year concurrent sentences after pleading guilty to a charge of Medicaid fraud and another for conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud. A judge also ordered Shaw-Taylor to pay $118,077 in restitution to the Maryland Medicaid Program and the forfeiture of certain seized assets for Shaw-Taylor’s role in a scheme to operate two pill mills in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County.

Shaw-Taylor’s sentencing brings to a close a multi-jurisdiction, multi-agency investigation of illegal opioid distribution that resulted in the conviction of ten defendants, prosecutors said. Shaw-Taylor is one of four doctors, along with several pharmaceutical companies, being sued by Anne Arundel County for allegedly over-prescribing highly addictive opioids seen as a gateway to heroin abuse.

“Maryland is in the midst of an opioid epidemic, with lives being lost every day,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh in a news release. “Dr. Shaw-Taylor defrauded the state and helped spread the disease of addiction. Today, with our federal and state partners, we shut him down and will continue to prosecute others who choose to operate as drug dealers masquerading as legitimate health practitioners.”

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According to trial evidence, Shaw-Taylor owned and/or operated two clinics that operated as pill mills, where, in exchange for cash, patients received unlawful prescriptions for large quantities of narcotics, including oxycodone, morphine, tramadol, and benzodiazepine. Shaw-Taylor was indicted in August 2017 along with nine other individuals for their role in the scheme. Eight of his co-defendants pleaded guilty for participating in the pill mill scheme. Tormarco Harris, owner of the two clinics, was sentenced in June to the maximum 20 years incarceration under Maryland’s Drug Kingpin statute, Frosh said.

Evidence at Harris' trial showed that medical professionals working at Starlife were pressured to change prescriptions to prescribe higher quantities of narcotics to their patients and wrote unlawful prescriptions for high volumes of oxycodone and other drugs to Harris and one of his relatives. When police executed a search warrant at Harris's home in August 2017, they reportedly found a large amount of cash, prescription pads, a cash counting machine, and numerous letters from national pharmacy chains placing Harris on notice of the problematic prescription practices at Starlife.

Dr. Shaw-Taylor previously pleaded guilty and received a five-year prison sentence based on his role at Starlife and another pill mill he operated in Baltimore called Westside Medical Group.

“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message that health care fraud and diversion of these too often deadly drugs will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon, Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in a news release. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect taxpayer funds and keep the public safe from these poisonous drugs.”

RELATED:

• Anne Arundel First MD County To Sue Doctors, Opioid Makers
• MD Overdose Deaths Hit Record Numbers In 2017, Early 2018

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