News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2008

Pensacola Pain Clinic Manager and Three Florida Doctors Indicted in Prescription Drug Conspiracy

FEB 15 -- Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller, Northern District of Florida, announced the unsealing on February 14, 2008, of a federal indictment against the manager of Global Pensacola Pain Management, Controlled Pain Management, LLC, and Pain Management Clinic, Mark E. Artigues, and three licensed physicians who prescribed to patients through the clinics: Dr. Geraldo Klug (Waycross, Georgia), Dr. Rogelio T. Martinez (Pensacola, Florida), and Dr. Osler F. Rivas (Pensacola). Artigues, Klug and Rivas were arrested and Martinez is pending arrest.

The indictment alleges that Klug, Martinez, and Rivas were all physicians licensed to practice by the State of Florida, each of whom possessed a DEA registration number that authorized them to prescribe controlled substances. The indictment further alleges that Artigues managed a succession of pain management clinics in Pensacola and employed all three doctors. Klug was employed as a prescribing physician at “Controlled Pain Management, LLC.” Martinez was employed as a prescribing physician at a successor business, “Chronic Pain Management Clinic, LLC.” Rivas was employed as a prescribing physician at “Chronic Pain Management Clinic, LLC” and at a successor business, “Controlled Pain Management, LLC.” Count 1 of the indictment charges that from at least April 1, 2005 through December 31, 2006, Artigues, Klug, Martinez and Rivas purported to provide “pain management” treatment for chronic pain patients through the clinic, when, in truth and fact, they did not operate a legitimate medical practice but instead engaged in a conspiracy to unlawfully dispense controlled pain medications including Oxycontin, Dilaudid, Roxicodone, Oxycodone, Lortab, Methadone, and others in exchange for cash office visit fees. Count 2 of the indictment alleges a money laundering conspiracy during the same period of time, alleging that Artigues, Klug, Martinez and Rivas engaged in financial transactions designed in whole or in part to promote the carrying on of their conspiracy to unlawfully dispense controlled substances. Artigues is charged alone in Count 3 with possessing, using, and carrying a firearm in furtherance of the controlled substances conspiracy.

The indictment is the result of a multi-year Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation named “Doc-in-a-Box,” investigated by the DEA Miami Field Division Pensacola Resident Office, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.