HOUSTON – A Texas doctor is accused of illegally selling millions of opioid pills by recruiting others to pose as patients and reselling the drugs on the black market.
In an indictment unsealed Thursday in the Southern District of Texas, James Robles, 70, of Weslaco, Texas, is charged with operating a cash-only clinic in Houston that he used to sell the controlled substances.
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Court documents allege Robles, a medical doctor licensed to practice in Texas, conspired with others to illegally prescribe oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol – all controlled substances with substantial street value that were in high demand on Houston’s black market. Operating from his cash-only Houston clinic, Robles allegedly sold prescriptions to “crew leaders” who recruited others to pose as patients, filled Robles’ prescriptions at complicit pharmacies and resold the drugs on the black market. As alleged, Robles often did not see or examine his purported patients before prescribing them opioids and other controlled substances.
Court documents allege Robles allegedly prescribed approximately 2.9 million pills of hydrocodone, 1.3 million pills of oxycodone and 1.1 million pills of carisoprodol in just over four years. The documents allege in less than three years of the conspiracy, more than $2 million in cash was deposited into bank accounts controlled by Robles.
Robles is federally charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, one count of distributing and dispensing controlled substances and one count of maintaining a drug involved premises. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.