A federal grand jury has charged that people involved with a Tennessee pain clinic has profited at least $8.1 million from a conspiracy to illegally distribute pain pills in southeastern Kentucky that resulted to an unfortunate overdose death.
Primarily charged were the owners of the Tennessee Pain Institute themselves, Anwar Mithavayani and Pete Tyndale. Also charged were the two doctors who worked in the clinic, Timothy Gowder and Gary Moore; and two Kentucky men who allegedly sold the drugs, James Bradley Combs and Larry Karr.
The case has been left pending since May 2017. The grand jury first indicted Gowder, 70, and Moore, 66, who live in Tennessee. However, the case was sealed at times.
The case was only unsealed on Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Hanly Ingram after a grand jury added charges against 54-year-old Mihavayani and 46-year-old Tyndale who live in South Florida; 40-year-old Combs of Woodbine; and 73-year-old Keavy. According to the indictment, the six conspired to distribute pain pills from January 2009 all the way until August of last year in Bell, Knox, Laurel, McCreary abd Whitley counties.
The indictment also points to an overdose death to the scheme of Mithavayani, Tyndale, Gowder, and Moore. The four also face charges of money laundering, while Combs and Karr face drug-distribution charges.
The clinic located in Hixson, Tenn., near Chattanooga, but pills from there allegedly contributed to the drug woes in southeastern Kentucky. The U.S. Department of Justice said that the clinic was forced to close down after police conducted a search.
The most serious charges against Combs and Karr carry a top punishment of 20 years prison sentence. While if convicted , Mithavayani, Tyndale, Gowder and Moore face a minimum of 20 years in prison, and up to life , since the alleged conspiracy led to a death of a person.
The case was collectively investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office.
Some experts may say that at least in this case, the government is going after real culprits, in comparison to The Goldwater’s previous story of FDA’s improper classification of kratom as an “opioid” substance. There are major issues with the FDA’s claims, one of which is that kratom could not be an opioid. Opioids are synthetic substances and kratom is a botanical product.
A delegation of seven scientists have taken the FDA to task for such improper classification of kratom.
ICYMI:
http://www.thegoldwater.com/news/18046-Delegation-Of-Scientists-Warn-Trump-Against-Kratom-Ban
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Th is is horrible, but, being a Tennessee native, I must unfortunately say that these pain clinic/drug dealer scams are all too common in my area.
Just some clarification… opium is also a botanical product and definitely an opiate. The whole kratom is botanical & opiates are synthetic argument does not help. Marijuana is a botanical, fenantyl and all the Chinese versions are the only 100% synthetic opiates, all the other common opiates start their process from opium. In case some are not informed, opium is scraped sap from certain poppy pods. The reason we are seeing overdoses in the junkie world is because it's easier to make fentanyl in a lab then deal with terrorists and the smuggling involved with opium.
There! Govt should go after real crooks illegally dealing with drugs incl wrong so called pain killers prescription and distribution, instead of going after harmless kratom. Leaves cant kill!