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Date: 12-01-2019
Case Style:
United States of America v. Dr. Jeanne E. Germeil
Case Number: 1:18-cr-20769-UU-1
Judge: Ursula Ungaro
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami-Dade County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: Andy R. Camacho, Adrienne Rosen and Kurt Lunkenheimer
Defendant's Attorney:
Call 918-582-6422 for help finding a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida for illegally dispensing opioid pain medication and contempt of court pending sentencing charges.
Description: Miami, FL - The United States of America charged Dr. Jeanne E. Germeil with illegally dispensing opioid pain medication and contempt of court pending sentencing.
Dr. Jeanne E. Germeil, 55, of Aventura, Florida was sentenced to a total of 210 months in prison after having been convicted at trial of illegally dispensing opioid pain medications and contempt of court pending sentencing.
“You cannot run from the law,” stated 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.”
“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 Field 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.”
“The capture and subsequent extradition of fugitives to face justice is what the U.S. Marshal Service endeavors on a daily basis,” stated 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 January 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, Florida. 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 February 1, 2016 and September 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, 2019, 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 failure to appear and contempt of court on August 29, 2019. U.S. District Judge Ursula M. Ungaro sentenced Dr. Germeil to a term of 188 months in prison for illegally dispensing opioids (Case No. 18cr20769), to run consecutively to a sentence of 22 months in prison for failing to appear and contempt of court (Case No. 19cr20474).
U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigation conducted by the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Aventura Police Department, City of Miami Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, Miami Gardens Police Department, North Miami Beach Department and Florida Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, E-FORCES.
Charges:
21:841 Dispensing a Controlled Substance
(1-14)
21:U.S.C.§841(a)(1)DISPENSING A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
(1s-16s)
Outcome: 11/26/2019 118 Defendant's Reply In Support of Its Objections to the Fifth Addendum to the Pre-Sentence Investigation Report by Jeanne E. Germeil to 117 Response to Objections to Presentence Investigation Report (Ecarius, Daniel) (Entered: 11/26/2019)
11/26/2019 119 Paperless Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Ursula Ungaro: Sentencing held on 11/26/2019 as to Jeanne E. Germeil.. Court Reporter: William Romanishin, 305-523-5558 / Bill_Romanishin@flsd.uscourts.gov. (kh) (Entered: 11/27/2019)
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Defendant's Experts:
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