Florida pill mill owner sentenced to more than 12 years in prison

A Brandon woman was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison for her role in operating and managing a pill mill that churned out illegal prescriptions of more than 28,000 oxycodone pills and nearly 6,000 Xanax pills, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Yolanda Camara, 49, also was ordered by the court to pay a money judgment of $124,285.64, which are proceeds of the offenses, according to prosecutors. Camara pleaded guilty on July 13, 2017.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the St. Petersburg Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel George.

According to court documents, Camara co-owned and ran Family Medical Express Center, Inc. in Brandon. She, along with several “co-conspirators,” operated the center as a medical clinic and sold illegal prescriptions to individuals who did not need them as well as people who then sold the pills on the street.

In some instances, one of Camara’s co-conspirators, Dr. Anil Sahijwani, wrote prescriptions at Camara’s or another co-conspirator’s request in the names of people he never examined, never met – and in some cases – people who did not exist.

During the hearing, Camara was held responsible for conspiring to illegally prescribe more than 28,000 oxycodone pills and nearly 6,000 Xanax pills.

All those involved have pled guilty to drug conspiracy and drug distribution charges and Camara also pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. She was also previously arrested for grand theft, Hillsborough County jail records show.

Six people, in total, have been sentenced in this and related cases:

• Dr. Anil Sahijwani was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in federal prison.
• Jonathan Wainwright, a “sponsor” who paid people to go to the clinic and get prescriptions for pills that he could sell, was sentenced to 9 years and 2 months imprisonment.
• Justin Oliveira, Camara’s son and clinic employee, and Jeremiah Foor, a patient/co-conspirator, were each sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment.
• David Arbogast, another patient/co-conspirator, was sentenced to 5 years of probation.

Samantha Putterman: 941-745-7027, @samputterman

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Florida pill mill owner sentenced to more than 12 years in prison."