Jacksonville, Fla. – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announced Brian Gregory Brightman (31, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. Brightman faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet...

MIAMI — Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and more than 4,400 law enforcement partners recently collected nearly 630,000 pounds of unused medications at 4,600 locations nationwide. This effort to empty medicine cabinets helps prevent drug misuse before it starts. Since its inception, DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day has removed...

MIAMI –DEA and its local law enforcement partners collected 670,136 pounds of unused medications during the 26th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 27, 2024. More than 200 Florida collection sites were available in 2024 with 29,964 pounds of unused prescription medication collected. In its 15th year of...

MIAMI – On January 12, a Miami federal court jury convicted a doctor of conspiracy to unlawfully dispense and distribute controlled substances, and six counts of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances. The conviction followed a seven-day trial before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn. Under federal law, a physician is authorized...

TAMPA , F la. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury found Dr. Qing McGaha guilty of 14 counts of unlawful drug distribution, four (4) counts of money laundering, and one (1) count of filing a false tax return. McGaha faces a maximum penalty of...

MIAMI – Dr. Ronald Lubetsky was sentenced this week to five (5) years in prison by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for unlawfully dispensing narcotics—specifically oxycodone and morphine. Lubetsky was convicted at trial in November on seven counts of unlawfully dispensing narcotics. Trial evidence showed that law enforcement learned...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Scott Andrew Hollington, M.D. (57, St. Augustine) with 10 counts of distribution of controlled substances and one (1) count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. If convicted, Hollington faces a maximum penalty of 20...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area clinic, its operators and a doctor from administering, dispensing or distributing any controlled substances, including issuing prescriptions for opioids, the Department of Justice announced. In a complaint filed on Oct. 11 and unsealed Oct. 14, the United...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered a Tampa-area pain management clinic to close and directed the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties pursuant to agreed resolutions in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department announced today. In...