Press Release
Doctor, Clinic Owner, And Law Enforcement Officer Indicted In Drug Trafficking And Bribery Conspiracy
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
JOSEPH J. MOGAN, III, M.D., TIFFANY MILLER, and DONALD NIDES were indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday, February 21, 2014, for conspiring to dispense prescription drugs illegally through “pill mill” clinics operated as Omni Pain Management in Metairie, Louisiana, and Omni Pain Management Plus in Slidell, Louisiana, announced U. S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr.
According to the indictment, MOGAN and MILLER owned and operated the two clinics and conspired to sell prescriptions for narcotics and other controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the bounds of professional medical practice to drug seekers and drug abusers. The indictment further charges DONALD NIDES, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) Task Force Officer and former New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) Officer, with participating in the drug trafficking conspiracy by advising MOGAN and MILLER as to how to avoid DEA “red flags”; by leaking confidential information to MILLER regarding ongoing investigations; and by lying to federal agents. NIDES is also charged with obstruction of justice and with conspiring to receive bribes, in the form of sex acts and money, in return for using his official position to assist MILLER and MOGAN in operating the Omni clinics as “pill mills.”
“Prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our community,” stated U.S. Attorney Polite. “We must halt this plague at its source, by bringing to justice any medical provider who violates our safety by illegally distributing these medications to the public.”
“Prescription drug trafficking and abuse are an epidemic in this country that destroys countless lives, and threatens important trusts in our society, such as our reliance on medical practitioners and, in this case, our faith in our law enforcement community,” stated Keith Brown, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration-New Orleans Field Division. “DEA is fully committed to the pursuit and arrest of any individual who abandons their oaths as medical practitioners and law enforcement officers to the patients they treat and the public they promise to protect. Prescription drug abuse is a fast growing, widespread problem in Louisiana and can only be countered by an effective collaboration among law enforcement, the medical community, and the public to identify and stop those responsible for the illegal distribution of prescription drugs in our communities.”
U. S. Attorney Polite reiterated that, at this time, the charges in the indictment are only allegations, and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case has been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, case agents George Cazenavette III and Brian Bradshaw, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Harry “Bill” McSherry and Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Redmann, who is assigned from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.
Updated November 18, 2014
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