Feds: 3 Detroit Area Docs Peddled $5.7M in Painkillers

DETROIT, MI – Doctors from West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills and Harrison Township have been indicted for peddling “poison” prescription painkillers in a $5.7 million drug ring, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced Wednesday.

The government alleges that Dr. Boris Zigmond, 50, of West Bloomfield Township, a chiropractor, was the ringleader in a drug-trafficking operation that put about 1 million painkillers on the black market.

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He and other doctors are accused in the indictment of recruiting patients and working with crooked pharmacists to writing prescriptions for powerful opioids that were then sold on the street from 2013 to 2015.

Besides Zigmond, others named in the indictment unsealed Wednesday include:

• Dr. Jennifer Franklin, 39, of Harrison Township
• Dr. Carlos Godoy, 78, of Farmington Hills
• Anna Fradlis, 61, of West Bloomfield
• Marina Jacobs, 44, of West Bloomfield
• Maryna Pitsenko, 46, of Sterling Heights
• Svetlana Sribna, 64, Sterling Heights
• Rodney Knight, 32, of Highland Park
• Tara Marcia Jackson, 53, of Detroit
• Sashanti Morris, 44, of Detroit

The 10 have been charged with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs. Zigmond also faces money laundering charges.

"Diversion of prescription pills to the street market promotes the addiction to painkillers that leads to overdose deaths," McQuade said in the announcement of the charges. "We are focusing on charging doctors, pharmacists and the networks that are putting this poison on the streets."

According to the indictment, Zigmond didn’t see the patients himself or write prescriptions, but established several office suites where Franklin and Godoy would see phony patients and write prescriptions.

Knight, Jackson and Morris served as “marketers” or “patient recruiters,” according to the indictment, which also alleges money was paid directly to Zigmond, Fradlis, Pitsenko, Sribna and Jacobs, who scheduled the appointments for the fake patients.

» Photo by Chris Potter via Flickr / Creative Commons