United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MIAMI – Dr. Jeanne E. Germeil, 55, of Aventura, Fla., was sentenced today to a total of 210 months in prison after having been convicted at trial of illegally dispensing opioid pain medications and jumping bond pending sentencing.

“Upon Dr. Germeil’s guilty verdict at trial, she fled to her native country of Haiti to avoid her punishment. DEA and our law enforcement partners worked tirelessly to find and capture Dr. Germeil, ensuring she answers for her crimes,” said DEA Miami Division Special Agent in Charge Adolphus P. Wright. “In light of the current opioid crisis this country is facing, DEA is committed to targeting criminals who sell and dispense these dangerous and deadly substances to our communities.”

“You cannot run from the law,” said U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan. “Dr. Jeanne Germeil was apprehended and brought back to the United States to face justice for her crimes of conviction. She will now serve years in prison for dispensing pain medications without a legitimate medical purpose and fueling the opioid epidemic. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to target medical professionals who seek to profit off of a public health crisis and evade prosecution.”

“The capture and subsequent extradition of fugitives to face justice is what the United States Marshals Service endeavors on a daily basis,” said U.S. Marshal Seralta. “Dr. Germeil’s capture, extradition and sentencing is another example of law enforcement partners working together to bring those complicit in the furtherance of the opioid crisis, to justice.” 

On Jan. 31, 2019, Dr. Germeil was convicted of eleven counts of dispensing controlled substances, opioid pain medications, without a legitimate medical purpose. According to evidence admitted at trial, Dr. Germeil ran Germeil Medical, Inc., a family medicine and pain management clinic, in North Miami Beach. Beginning in or around March 2016 and continuing through November 2017, Dr. Germeil prescribed controlled opioid pain medication to patients. The true and intended purpose of the consultations was to improperly issue prescriptions to patients for opioids, such as hydromorphone, oxycodone and oxycodone-acetaminophen, in exchange for cash, cash co-pays and other payments. Pursuant to Dr. Germeil’s instructions, office staff were required to obtain an MRI from patients to create a façade of legitimacy before an office consult. After passing the gate-keeping function, Dr. Germeil prescribed opioids at levels consistent with treating end of life, cancer and terminally ill patients and maintained those prescription levels throughout the duration of the patient visits.

Between Feb. 1, 2016, and Sept. 26, 2017, Dr. Germeil wrote 13,759 prescriptions to patients for 1,458,727 units of hydromorphone, oxycodone and/or oxycodone-acetaminophen. Dr. Germeil was not providing a medically meaningful consultation but was in fact acting outside the scope of her professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose.  

Dr. Germeil was originally scheduled to be sentenced on April 19 but failed to appear in court. A warrant was issued for her arrest. Dr. Germeil was apprehended in Haiti on July 18, 2019, and pled guilty to bond jumping and contempt of court on Aug. 29, 2019. Dr. Germeil was sentenced to a term of 188 months in prison for illegally dispensing opioids, to run consecutively to a sentence of 22 months in prison for failing to appear and contempt of court.

This case was investigated by the DEA Miami Division, the Aventura Police Department, City of Miami Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, the North Miami Beach Police Department, the Florida Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, E-FORCES and the U.S. Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

More information about this case may be found on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida website or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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