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3 of 4 Released in [New Orleans] Pain Clinic Raids
 

 
Michael Perlstein; Times-Picayune; 2006-07-13. Posted: 2006-07-23.
[Identifier: http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/WOD/WPS13-NoPillMill/NoPillMillBail06.htm]
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Related resources:
PAIN RELIEF NETWORK website
 
War on Doctors Academic and Legal archives  ;  Drug War Journalism and Advocacy archives
  
See also:
The New Orleans 'Pill Mill' Case - Venal Pols and Prosecutors Conspire to Ban Pain Management
WAR ON PAIN SUFFERERS #13; compiled by Alexander DeLuca; 2006-07-15
 
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Rejecting government arguments that the owner of three high-volume pain management clinics and the doctors she employed were as dangerous as street-corner drug dealers, a federal magistrate allowed the release Wednesday of three of the four defendants arrested Tuesday in surprise raids of the clinics and four associated pharmacies.

But U.S. Magistrate Louis Moore Jr. imposed high bail and stringent conditions on the defendants after hearing several hours of powerful testimony in which witnesses portrayed Scherer's Medical Center clinics as illegal pill factories that fueled the narcotics addictions of hundreds of patients, including many who presented no evidence of medical problems.

Moore set a $500,000 property bond for the owner of the clinics, Cherlyn "Cookie" Armstrong Prejean, and ordered her to surrender her nursing license and passport. Prejean, 45, owns and operates Scherer's clinics in Slidell, Metairie and Gretna, as well as branches of Mia's Pharmacy next door to the Metairie and Slidell clinics.

Moore also allowed the release of two of the clinic's doctors -- Betty DeLoach and Joseph Guenther -- on $100,000 personal surety bonds provided that they no longer write prescriptions or practice pain management. Family members were allowed to sign the surety bonds after promising they would cover the bail amounts in the case of a missed court appearance.

The bail hearing for the fourth defendant, Dr. Suzette Cullins, 43, was postponed until she could hire an attorney.

Emotional testimony
Moore ruled after a long and emotion-packed hearing during which the mothers of three young clinic patients testified for the government. Each of the patients overdosed several times after taking Scherer's standard pill regimen: the so-called "holy trinity" of painkiller Lorcet, anti-anxiety drug Xanax and muscle relaxer Soma. One of the patients was driven into psychosis after two overdoses and eventually committed suicide, the patient's mother testified as she crumpled into sobs in the witness chair.

"The allegations are grave, but they are not proven," Moore said in his ruling. "Anyone has to feel for the people who testified here today. It touches our legal bone marrow. But we can't make rulings based on emotion."

St. Bernard Parish Coroner Bryan Bertucci testified that the abuse of prescription drugs, especially the combination prescribed by Scherer's cash-only clinics to hundreds of patients every day, is his parish's biggest drug problem, leading to more than 30 deaths in each of the past three years.
After prosecutors introduced the pastel-colored preprinted prescriptions used by Scherer's to dole out the "trinity," Bertucci said, "Taken by themselves, people can safely take those doses. When they combine them, they overdose and they die."

'Even worse'
Lead prosecutor Tony Sanders said Prejean's clinics helped fuel an epidemic of drug addiction under the guise of proper medical treatment. Sanders softened his position on detention for DeLoach, 66, and Guenther, 71, when the federal pretrial services office recommended bail based in part on the defendants' ages and health problems.

But he vigorously argued that Prejean remain locked up.

"Cookie Armstrong Prejean basically ran a drug organization, just as a drug dealer would run a Schedule I drug ring," Sanders said, referring to federal cases against cocaine and heroin dealers. "Her dealers weren't the people you normally see making hand-to-hand transactions. They were doctors. . . . In some ways, that's even worse than a Schedule I drug ring."

Sanders also characterized Prejean as a flight risk, detailing the $4 million in frozen assets in Prejean's bank accounts and the $1.6 million found stashed in bags, boxes and safes in her Eastover home. Internal Revenue Service investigators said about $1.2 million remains missing based on cash profits Prejean's businesses hauled in since the beginning of 2004.

But Prejean's attorney, Sal Panzeca, accused the government of "grandstanding," unfairly portraying a busy, tax-paying business owner as a common criminal.

"What was presented by the government today was a lot of hoopla," Panzeca said. "They put on those crying mothers for what reason?" Then, pointing to his client, he asked, "Is it that little lady's problem that their sons had drug problems?"

The defendants are each charged with conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances; Prejean and Cullins face an additional charge of distributing the drugs to people younger than 21. Both drug charges carry a five-year maximum prison sentence. Prejean, using her married name instead of her business name used in court documents, also faces a money-laundering charge, which carries up to 10 years in prison.

Michael Perlstein can be reached at mperlstein@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3316.

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