Now it is time to figure out how to address your Miami criminal charge.  If you are spending the time to read this post, you are likely one that is inclined to hire a private attorney to walk you through the process.  Although the internet is one of many sources one can use in hiring a lawyer, it may not be the best one.  Any criminal defense attorney can pay for an online advertisement or drop enough money to affect his or her google ranking.  Just because a lawyer’s web page falls on the first page of google it does not mean that he or she is the best one for the job.  Some of the best lawyers in Miami either do not have a web page or do not have much of an online presence.  That is not to say that quality lawyers (including yours truly) can not be found online and/or through social media, but I am just warning you in advance to shop online with skepticism.  Furthermore, you may be directed to use some of the “independent” legal sources, but be aware that a great majority of those lean heavily in favor of attorneys that advertise with them or pay for premium placement.  Lastly, you will likely have a mailbox full of legal solicitations within a week of your arrest.  I can not and won’t tell you to throw them out or turn them into coasters, but think of it like this: if you needed surgery, would you let some doctor cut you open that came to your house banging on your door begging to do it?  Didn’t think so.

As is with most professions, the best way to find your best legal options is through referral.  You may be embarrassed or scared to let someone you know that you have been arrested,…get over it (or pretend you are asking for a friend).  You would not blindly hire a heart surgeon off the web, so why find your lawyer the same way?  Depending on your profession or the seriousness of the charge, the resolution of your criminal case could be tragic if not handled by the right person.  So, call your accountant, call the attorney that handled the closing on your house, or call whomever it is in your life that would know what to do.  Take what information you receive and then use the web to vet your choices if you wish.

When you meet with your potential attorneys, do so armed with questions.  Also, meet with more than one or two, no matter how much you like the first guy.  Things you should keep in mind:

-Is he/she a trial lawyer?  I am not suggesting that your case should or will go to trial.  The likelihood is that your case will not.  But, a true litigator, someone who can pick a jury and is not afraid a verdict, not only knows how to prepare a case, but he or she is armed and dangerous.  Prosecutors know which attorneys are a afraid of trial or have little trial experience.  If the State has nothing to fear and it knows that at the end of the day the case will be a plea, then what is the motivation to negotiate?

-If he/she is a trial lawyer, when was the last case he/she tried?  Don’t concern yourself with the verdict or the attorney’s record, but you should ask about the last few cases the firm took to a jury.  What the charges were and how long ago?  Get case numbers, do not let them spout off about all these complicated cases without calling them out.  Many will fumble.  And I tell you to disregard the verdict, because every case is different.  Some cases are losers and some cases are winners, and if a lawyer tells you that he has never lost a case, then he is either lying, has little experience, or lays down on the hard ones.

I hope this little post helped.  For a more in-depth look at the criminal lawyer hiring process, I suggest you read: The-Truth-About-Hiring-a-Criminal-Defense-Lawyer by my colleague Brian Tannebaum.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/27/2332647/us-seeking-cars-cash-jewelry-in.html#ixzz1TaX41gGn

A Miami-Dade doctor was acquitted of Medicare fraud charges Friday in a sweeping home healthcare case that has so far netted more than 20 convictions through guilty plea deals.

Dr. Jorge Dieppa, 56, was found not guilty by a Miami federal jury of conspiring to bilk the taxpayer-funded program and falsifying patient records in exchange for kickbacks.

Dieppa, who took the witness stand in his own defense, was accused of referring more than 300 patients to a pair of Miami-Dade home healthcare agencies for costly diabetic services that prosecutors said were unnecessary or not provided. The two agencies at the center of the racket, ABC Home Health Care and Florida Home Health Providers, billed Medicare for $22 million and were paid $15 million between 2006 and 2009.

But Dieppa testified that he evaluated all of his patients and also relied on teams of nurses before determining whether the Medicare beneficiaries were qualified to receive diabetic services at home, including insulin injections.

Dieppa’s testimony conflicted with that of a key government witness, Roberto Rodriguez, a registered nurse. He said that patients’ records were falsified to make it appear that they were eligible for homecare services, which also included physical therapy.

“[Rodriguez] was a criminal with a medical license,” said Dieppa’s attorney, referring to Rodriguez. “My client trusted him and didn’t know anything about the fraudulent activity. The jury saw through the whole thing.”

Last month, Rodriguez and seven other nurses who worked for the two home healthcare agencies were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five months to 2 ½ years.

Each of the eight nurses pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to the Justice Department. The nurses admitted falsifying patient records for Medicare beneficiaries and acting as recruiters for the two homecare agencies.

The operators of two agencies – along with other employees, doctors and nurses – have been convicted and sentenced in the widening investigation.

Last month, 21 more defendants were charged in the case, including two doctors and six nurses, all accused of receiving kickbacks from the two homecare agencies for patient referrals.

During the past two years, the Justice Department, U.S. attorney’s office in Miami and Medicare have been zeroing in on the county’s home healthcare industry. Dozens of agencies have been suspected of overbilling the government program millions of dollars for nursing and aide services that were not necessary or not provided.

Medicare suspended the billing privileges of dozens of home healthcare agencies that had charged more than $100 million in suspicious services to treat homebound diabetic patients, including false claims for nurses’ shooting their insulin twice a day.

Medicare issued the suspensions in 2009-10 after finding that it was spending one of every $15 on home healthcare nationwide in one county – Miami-Dade.

Miami DEA chief Mark R. Trouville says raids and arrests of pill mills last week in South Florida generated a wave of public interest. Some people called news organizations with tips about pill mills.

The DEA has set up a toll-free, 24-hour pill mill tipline. The number is 1-888-954-4662.

Twenty people were arrested in last week’s raids, including five doctors. South Florida has become a national hotbed of illegal prescription of huge amounts of painkillers like oxycodone to addicts and dealers throughout the eastern U.S.

Broward County officials say their county alone has more than 130 pill mills.

Attorney Michael C. Grieco is a Federal and Florida Pill Mill Criminal Defense Attorney representing doctors and clinic owners.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/24/arrest-pill-sweep-florida/#ixzz1F4J3Wi9A

The mission: a complete takedown of Midtown Medical Clinic and the arrest of Dr. Jeffrey Lipman. The alleged “pill mill” was just a few blocks from the Miami Police staging area where DEA, Florida Department of Health, City of Miami as well as Miami-Dade County police suited up and listened as their superiors made sure each division knew their role.

Undercover agents had been conducting surveillance on the doctor and just gave word that he had arrived.
DEA was to secure the outside of the building as well as the patients as they were funneled out. They were also to find and secure the clinic’s security guard. Being a cash-only operation with an additional large stash of oxycodone, most clinics have at least one or two armed guards in addition to video surveillance.
Fox News was allowed to shadow law enforcement on this, one of the many pill mill raids happening simultaneously Wednesday across three Florida counties. On this raid, Miami police were the first inside the clinic, tasked with securing the wanted doctor and any staff or patients inside.
Upon arrival, a few patrons were milling around the parking lot or in their cars. The agents quickly lined them up against the wall and ran their licenses for any outstanding warrants while frisking them for weapons or pills.

Within minutes, a line of 20 patients were escorted out of the building and added to the line outside.
Another patron pulled into the driveway and once she realized a raid was going down she attempted to back out. She was stopped and also added to the line.
Three Miami officers worked quickly to run all the licenses. One woman had a warrant out for her. Another had a big bottle of Xanax. A female police officer spilled the pills in her hand as she leaned into her colleague’s police cruiser, lights flashing.
“She doesn’t have a prescription. She said that the bottle belongs to somebody else and she put the pills in here. It’s a way lot of pills,” she said.
All of the patrons were from Florida, although one couple drove up in a car with Connecticut license plates.
Florida Department of Health workers quickly fanned out in front of the patients with questionnaires. A few of the patrons voluntarily signed medical release forms and discussed their medical conditions with the investigators. A worker explained, “we’re not after you, we just need your help to try to figure out if your doctor was following all the right regulations.”

A few patrons complained that they had already paid for their visit that now had been interrupted. A health department staff member explained that patients pre-pay the doctor in cash. Without cash up front you won’t get seen. This is typical of pill mill operations. The health employee proceeded to give the patients receipts to collect their money back from the doctor “when he decides what to do.”
Staffers told us the neighbors had long been complaining about the clinics’ patrons, who often used the pills right in the parking lot, melting them down and shooting them – the time-release action of the pill was too long a wait for their high.
When the doctor was finally led out of the building in handcuffs, he didn’t say much. “Were you operating legally here sir?” Spanish media asked. “Yes,” he responded as he ducked into the police cruiser. Offiers brought him around the front of the clinic and loaded him into the back of a corrections van headed to the Dade County Jail.

Shortly afterward, agents brought out boxes of evidence and loaded them into an SUV.
They said they would be there all day collecting paperwork and computers and, of course, cataloguing and processing the pills.
DEA Agent Manuel A. Recio said “pill mill” doctors, once convicted, are stripped of their DEA prescribing ID, which is the most important penalty they receive.
“We’re trying to make a difference. A lot of these pharmaceutical drugs are getting into the hands of our young kids and teenagers, and they’re using these drugs without knowing what they are,” Recio said. He said all law enforcement divisions would continue their work on behalf of the community to stop clinics that mis-prescribe from functioning.
On this day the Midtown Medical Clinic was shut down, at least temporarily.
“Where can I get my prescription now?” asked one patient. “You mean I gotta find another doctor?”
“Yes,” a health department worker replied. “I would find another doctor.”
The product of a lengthy undercover investigation, the raid was a first for this alleged pill mill.
Dr. Lipman was charged with six counts of trafficking oxycodone.
The arrest affidavit states: “Dr. Lipman prescribed controlled substances without legitimate medical need and not in the course of usual professional practice. He prescribed these medications in excessive doses to patients who denied the presence of pain. …
“Dr, Lipman failed to perform necessary physical examinations and seemed to believe that an abnormality on an MRI study ‘qualified’ a patient for controlled substances even in the absence of pain complaints….practices at the premises are consistent with those of the usual ‘pill mill’ where cash is the only form of payment, patients often travel from long distances and sell prescribed controlled substances, physical examinations are not performed … controlled substances are prescribed in excessive dosages and potentially fatal combinations.”

MICHAEL C. GRIECO IS A FORMER SOUTH FLORIDA PROSECUTOR AND MIAMI CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY WHO REGULARLY HANDLES THESE PILL MILL CASES.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/24/arrest-pill-sweep-florida/#ixzz1F4IpdsPs

TALLAHASSEE, FL- Attorney General Pam Bondi today unveiled her comprehensive strategy to address pill mills in Florida, including a series of legislative recommendations for the upcoming legislative session. Because of pill mills, Florida leads the nation in diverted prescription drugs, and Attorney General Bondi has made it her top priority to aggressively tackle this public safety crisis. Attorney General Bondi was joined today by law enforcement officials throughout the state.
Key legislative recommendations include:

· Mandatory six-month suspension and $10,000 fine for doctors who violate standards of care when prescribing controlled substances;

· Criminal penalty (third-degree felony) for those who use fraud or misrepresentation to register as a pain clinic;

· Criminal penalty for doctors who fail to perform a physical examination before dispensing 72-hours worth of controlled substances; second-degree misdemeanor for the first offense; first-degree misdemeanor for the second offense; and third-degree felony for the third offense; and

· Requirement that anyone who maintains inventory of controlled substances must report the discovery of any theft of controlled substances to local law enforcement or FDLE within 48 hours; failure to do so will result in administrative penalties and fines.

In addition to her legislative proposals, Attorney General Bondi outlined the need for aggressive administrative enforcement on pain clinics and doctors; increased criminal prosecution through partnerships between the Office of Statewide Prosecution and State Attorneys in high drug-trafficking areas; and long-term prevention strategies such as drug takebacks and drug courts.
“Our state needs a unified effort at every level to eradicate Florida’s pill mills,” said Attorney General Bondi. “We are working with state and local law enforcement, as well as our federal partners, to curtail the dangerous dispensing and abuse of prescription drugs.”
Today’s participants included:
· Attorney General Bondi
· Dave Aronberg, Special Counsel on Pill Mills
· Ken Tucker, Assistant Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
· Nick Cox, Statewide Prosecutor
· Pam Marsh, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida
· Lorri Hall, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer and Detective for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
· Dr. Fred Bearison, Board of Medicine
· Karen Perry, N.O.P.E. co-founder and anti-pill mill advocate
Florida has become the destination for distributors and abusers through the proliferation of pill mills. While the Legislature has already enacted several reforms to address this growing problem, Attorney General Bondi has identified additional provisions that will give law enforcement enhanced tools to investigate and prosecute pill mills and crack down on doctors that engage in drug trafficking.
“I commend the Attorney General for making this her top priority,” said Dave Aronberg. “No longer will Florida serve as the pill mill for the rest of the country.”
Also attending in support of Attorney General Bondi’s pill mill strategies were: Amy Mercer, Executive Director, Florida Police Chiefs Association; Steve Casey, Executive Director, Florida Sheriffs Association; and Cheryl Stewart, Deputy Police Chief, Tallahassee Police Department.

MICHAEL C. GRIECO IS A FORMER SOUTH FLORIDA PROSECUTOR AND MIAMI CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY WHO REGULARLY HANDLES PILL MILL CASES IN MIAMI STATE AND FEDERAL COURT.

By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer – Wed Feb 23, 5:23 pm ET
WESTON, Fla. – U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police swept across South Florida on Wednesday making arrests as part of a lengthy undercover operation into illegal pill mills that dispense huge amounts of powerful prescription drugs across the nation.
Federal law enforcement officials said the yearlong probe resulted in initial arrests of 20 people, including at least five doctors, in an operation in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties that involved about 400 law enforcement officers. Six people were charged in a federal indictment and others face state charges, including the physician son of Broward County’s medical examiner.
Mark R. Trouville, chief of the Miami DEA field office, said more arrests are coming, noting that undercover agents made at least 340 purchases of oxycodone and other painkillers at 40 clinics over the past year.
Speaking at a news conference directly to doctors and clinic owners, Trouville said: “We have probably bought dope from you — and we’re coming to see you soon.”
The federal indictment unsealed Wednesday against six people who operated a network of South Florida pain clinics asserts that they trolled the Internet for prospective patients using some 1,600 domain names that captured searches for pain medication. They charged clinic visit fees of between $200 and $350 per patient, and patients could pay additional “VIP” fees to jump ahead in line.
Court documents show this one network dispensed some 660,000 units of oxycodone through five clinics between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2010. The six operators are charged with oxycodone distribution conspiracy and some with money laundering as well.
Prosecutors in that case seek forfeiture of more than $22 million in cash, real estate and a list of 49 vehicles and boats including exotic Lamborghini sports cars, a Bentley convertible and several Mercedes-Benzes.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said the raids targeted “drug dealers who are hiding behind medical prescriptions.”
A total of 172 state charges were brought in Palm Beach County against clinic operators and employees and doctors, including racketeering and oxycodone trafficking. The potential maximum sentences for some of those defendants top 500 years.
Affidavits filed by undercover agents show how easy it is to get prescriptions for massive amounts of pills despite complaining only of a stiff neck. In one buy, an agent is warned to stay away from chain drugstores because suspicious prescriptions are easier to track.
“I can’t say this enough,” a clinic employee is quoting as saying in a recorded visit. “They are not your friend, they are your enemy.”
Later, according to the affidavit, the employee adds: “All right. Any questions? All right. Let’s get this party started!”
South Florida is the national epicenter for illegal dispensing of prescription drugs such as the highly addictive painkiller oxycodone. State officials said recently that 85 percent of all oxycodone pills sold in the U.S. come from Florida and that the nation’s top 50 medical prescribers of such drugs are located in the state.
Federal officials say 27,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2007, nearly half from prescription drugs. The data is the most recent available. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said prescription drug abuse has become law enforcement’s top drug problem.
“Every 27 hours in Palm Beach County, we handle a drug overdose. It’s not from heroin, it’s not from cocaine, it’s from prescription drugs,” Bradshaw said.
As law enforcement officials struggle to keep up with the problem, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has recently faced criticism both inside and outside Florida for his proposal to scrap a planned state database for tracking prescription drugs. Scott said Tuesday he will not back down, contending that the program is a waste of money and an invasion of privacy.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, like Scott a Republican, said she supports the database but is focused on boosting penalties and enforcement against illicit pill mill operations.
Several U.S. senators, including Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have written Scott to urge that Florida’s tracking system be put in place because the lack of it has “serious ramifications” for drug abuse nationwide.
At Wednesday’s news conference, the DEA’s Trouville noted that Florida has attracted more illicit pain clinics because it does not have such a database. Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti, whose county has 130 pain clinics — more clinics than McDonald’s restaurants — said it took seven years to win approval of the tracking system and that Scott is wrong to kill it.
“It is a huge step backward to rescind that,” Lamberti said. “It’s critical that we have that.”

MICHAEL C. GRIECO IS A FORMER SOUTH FLORIDA PROSECUTOR AND MIAMI CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY WHO REGULARLY HANDLES PILL MILL CASES IN MIAMI STATE AND FEDERAL COURT.

​On the police report, it will say something like “observed vehicle swerving erratically. Issued verbal traffic warning. Officer detected aroma of marijuana.”

But in reality, says Ofc. Frank Adams– the renegade 15-year Miami-Dade veteran who this week claimed to NewTimes that he watched his fellow officers severely beat an unarmed man– that quota-chasing cop pulled you over because you’re black and dreadlocked, and then he illegally searched your car in the hopes of finding anything illegal.

You always knew it was true but had never heard it from a cop. Before now. Here are the real reasons you’re staring at your beleagured reflection in that trooper’s aviators:

1. You’re in a car with a lot of people.
“It doesn’t matter what you stop them for because you can make up anything. When you go up to the car, you want to get everybody’s identification. That’s called a field interview, and you get a stat for it that goes on your monthly evaluation. Legally, you’re only supposed to conduct a field interview on the driver, but you’ll find that the great majority of people don’t know their rights. Hopefully, somebody in the car has a bench warrant. Then you get that arrest stat.”

2. You’re black.
“The thinking is that black people commit the majority of crimes, so somebody has to have a bench warrant on them. And they don’t know their rights, so they won’t file a complaint.”

3. You have dreadlocks and gold teeth.
“Particularly dreads. Golds are good too, but when you’re in your squad car you can see dreads from hundreds of feet away.”

4. You are among six black, dreadlocked men packed into one car.
“Oh, that vehicle is absolutely getting pulled over. The way an officer sees it, one or all of those people are involved in criminal activity. If it’s not drugs, it’s robbery, but at least one person has some connection to some kind of criminal activity. With people like that, you also want to search the car. You go in the glove compartment, you go in the console, you go under the seat. Justifying that search in your police report is where the creative writing skills come in handy.

When you approached the car, you have to say, there was a smell of weed. Or if you find a weapon, you say this in the report: In plain sight, up on the center console, or on the floorboard, you ‘observed’, you ‘saw’, you ‘noticed’, a handgun. Subject was asked to step out of the vehicle, handgun was confiscated and weapon check revealed that the weapon was unregistered. Subject was arrested. You can’t say that you actually found the gun under the driver’s seat, because that’s an illegal search.

5. The cop is behind on his field interview and arrest quotas.
“There’s not a specific time of day when the need for stats arises. There’s no specific day of the week. It’s more so when you look at your numbers and you realize you’re in need. Every day you want to try to get something– one or two arrests, a traffic infraction, a field interview. The expectation is that you average two of each category every day you’re on duty. Then the department will be extremely happy with you.

And let’s say for some reason you didn’t hit your numbers the day before. Then it’s catch-up time. Maybe you were forced to respond to a scene of a death yesterday. You were there for hours, and you didn’t get one stat. That next day, you want to camp out on a busy street in the city, and just start pulling people over. Or you’ll want to head to an area– say in front of a corner store– where you know there’s drug activity, and just search everybody in front of the place. Even though that’s illegal.”