United States v. Elliott

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From 2008-2014, Pain Center of Broward (PCB) issued cheap pain pill prescriptions; 60-65 patients a day arrived from many states. PCB’s owner, Shumrak, had no medical training. Seven of Eastern Kentucky’s largest drug trafficking organizations used PCB as their source for opioid pills. Elliott was PCB's security guard. When Elliott observed DEA agents or police watching the building, he warned patients. Elliot also shuttled prescriptions from the clinic to doctors for signatures. Frial-Carrasco was a doctor and was aware of many “red flag[s]” that PCB was a “pill mill.” Solomon was a PCB physician assistant; although doctor’s signed her prescriptions no doctor supervised her patient examinations. DEA agents raided PCB, arrested Shumrak; escorted clinic employees to an office, stating they were not under arrest and conducted a search, during which the employees were free to leave. Solomon made incriminating statements. An agent then read Miranda warnings to Solomon. A jury found Solomon, Elliot, and Frial-Carrasco guilty of conspiracy, assessed forfeiture of proceeds of $10 million. Applying then-applicable standards, the court credited them with $8 million forfeited by Shumrak and found them jointly and severally liable for the balance. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that venue was proper in the Eastern District of Kentucky although the customers who were known to be taking pills to Kentucky were merely purchasers and no conspirator committed an overt act in Kentucky. A conspirator can be tried at the place where a conspiracy targets its acts. The court remanded for calculation of forfeiture amounts under the Supreme Court’s 2017 "Honeycutt" decision. View "United States v. Elliott" on Justia Law