Dallas DEA Defense Attorney

Dallas DEA Defense Attorney: 35 Years for Dr. Jacques Roy, 48 Texans in the 2025 Takedown, and Why Dallas Has Been the Home Health Fraud Capital Since 2011

Dr. Jacques Roy received 420 months in federal prison – that’s 35 years – and was ordered to pay $268 million in restitution. He certified more Medicare beneficiaries for home health services than any other medical practice in the United States. Over five years, Roy certified 11,000 patients from more than 500 home health agencies, enabling those agencies to bill Medicare for $375 million in services. He didn’t prescribe opioids. He didn’t run a pill mill. He signed paperwork certifying that patients needed home health care – and that paperwork generated the largest healthcare fraud prosecution in the Northern District of Texas history.

In the 2025 National Healthcare Fraud Takedown, 48 Texans were among the 324 defendants charged nationwide – more than any other state. The government seized more than $245 million in assets. One Richardson defendant received $65 million in fraudulent genetic testing reimbursements, including $13 million in just ten days. Dallas has been called the “home health capital” of Medicare fraud, and the U.S. Attorney’s office says home health fraud “continues to plague the DFW area” despite 14 years of Strike Force enforcement.

The Dallas Medicare Fraud Strike Force has been operational since 2011. That’s 14 years of institutional knowledge about how healthcare fraud works in this region. When DEA investigators in Dallas identify your practice for scrutiny, you’re facing prosecutors who have spent over a decade perfecting the prosecution of healthcare providers in what remains the most active healthcare fraud jurisdiction in the country.

The Roy Case – 35 Years for Signing Papers

Heres the inversion that should concern every Dallas healthcare provider. Dr. Jacques Roy didnt prescribe controlled substances. He wasnt running a pill mill. He was certifying patients for home health services – signing paperwork that said these patients qualified for home-based care.

That paperwork generated billing. The home health agencies Roy worked with submitted claims to Medicare totaling $375 million. Roy certified more Medicare beneficiaries for home health services then any other medical practice in the United States. Between January 2006 and November 2011, his practice Medistat Group Associates certified patients from more then 500 different home health agencies.

Think about what 11,000 patients from 500 agencies means:

• Thats approximately six new certifications per day, every day, for five years
• Not from patients who came to his practice seeking treatment – from agencies who needed physician signatures to bill Medicare
• The volume alone was evidence of fraud

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay sentenced Roy to 420 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $268,147,699.15 in restitution. Thats the longest healthcare fraud sentence in the Northern District’s history. And it came not from prescribing drugs but from signing certification paperwork.

48 Texans in a Single Takedown

The 2025 National Healthcare Fraud Takedown charged 324 defendants nationwide for schemes involving more then $14.6 billion in intended losses. Texas led the nation with 48 defendants – more then any other state. The Northern District of Texas alone had multiple defendants charged in schemes totaling hundreds of millions.

Heres one example from that takedown. Khadeer Khan Mohammed was charged with healthcare fraud for submitting false claims to Medicare for genetic testing through American Premier Labs in Richardson:

• He submitted claims for $93 million
• He was paid $65 million for false testing
• In one ten-day period, he recieved $13 million in reimbursements

The speed of the fraud – $13 million in ten days – demonstrates the scale of the schemes Dallas prosecutors now target.

Another defendant, Olatunbosun Osukoya of Plano, was charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for allegedly submitting over $25 million in false claims for EEG testing through Ayo Biometrics. The scheme involved paying kickbacks and bribes to physicians to refer patients for testing that wasnt medically necessary.

The 2025 takedown wasnt an outlier:

• The Novus healthcare fraud case involved 13 defendants sentenced to a combined 84 years in federal prison over a $27 million scheme
• The Spectrum/Reliable healthcare fraud case charged 11 defendants who all pleaded guilty within two months of indictment – a $300 million fraud scheme that collapsed immediatly under the weight of evidence the Strike Force had assembled

Operation Wasted Daze – 46 Convictions

Operation Wasted Daze resulted in 46 convictions from a single investigation in Fort Worth:

• Two doctors
• A nurse practitioner
• Five pharmacists
• Thirty-eight others who played roles in an $18 million pill mill scheme

The scheme recruited homeless people from shelters to pose as patients. The recruiters paid $50 to $200 cash per person. The fake patients got prescriptions. The prescriptions got filled at complicit pharmacies. The pills got sold on the street. And DEA’s Fort Worth Tactical Diversion Squad built cases against everyone involved.

The lead defendant was an oncologist. Dr. Caesar Mark Capistrano was a cancer specialist who prescribed:

• More than 524,000 doses of hydrocodone
• 430,000 doses of carisoprodol
• 77,000 doses of alprazolam
• 2.07 million doses of promethazine with codeine over nine years

An oncologist – someone you’d expect to prescribe controlled substances for cancer patients – running a pill mill operation that had nothing to do with cancer treatment. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

This is the enforcement reality in Dallas-Fort Worth. Not occasional prosecutions of obvious bad actors, but industrial-scale investigations that produce dozens of convictions simultaneously. If you’re prescribing controlled substances in the Dallas area, you’re operating in jurisdiction of a Tactical Diversion Squad that just dismantled an entire criminal ecosystem involving 46 defendants.

The Oncologist Who Prescribed 2 Million Doses

Dr. Capistrano’s specialty made his pill mill harder to detect initially. Oncologists prescribe controlled substances all the time – cancer patients need pain management, anti-nausea medication, anxiety relief. The specialty provides cover for high-volume controlled substance prescribing that would raise immediate flags for a family medicine doctor.

But 2.07 million doses of promethazine with codeine from a single physician over nine years isnt cancer care. Thats roughly 630 doses per day, every day, for nine years. The math alone proves that no legitimate oncology practice could generate those numbers. Prosecutors didnt need to prove bad intent – they just had to show that the volume was impossible medicine.

Heres were Capistrano’s case reveals the hidden structure of pill mill operations. He didnt work alone. His clinic manager, Shirley Ann Williams, helped coordinate the scheme. Recruiters identified homeless people and others willing to pose as patients. Complicit pharmacies filled prescriptions they knew were illegitimate. The ecosystem required multiple people at multiple points in the chain.

When DEA investigates, they dont just target the prescriber. They target everyone. The 46 convictions in Operation Wasted Daze included the doctors, the pharmacists, the clinic staff, and the recruiters. Your practice staff can face federal charges. The pharmacists who fill your prescriptions can face federal charges. Everyone who participates in the flow of pills becomes a potential defendant.

Homeless People as Fake Patients

The recruitment model that built Capistrano’s patient volume is both simple and troubling. Recruiters went to homeless shelters and other locations where people needed cash. They offered $50 to $200 per visit. The “patient” showed up at the clinic, got a prescription, and the recruiter handled the rest – getting the prescription filled and selling the pills.

From the doctors perspective, these were patients who came in, sat for whatever abbreviated examination occured, and recieved prescriptions. From the investigation’s perspective, every single one of these fake patients was a potential witness. The homeless person who took $100 to pose as a patient can testify about the recruitment, the visit, what happened to the prescription afterward.

Dr. Tameka Noel was convicted alongside Capistrano. She prescribed more then 200,000 doses of hydrocodone and 450,000 doses of promethazine with codeine over seven years. She got eight years in federal prison. The same recruitment network that fed Capistrano’s practice also fed hers.

Heres the uncomfortable truth about this scheme. It exploited vulnerable people as props. Homeless individuals needed money. The pill mill needed bodies to create prescriptions. The transaction served everyones immediate interests while creating the evidence trail that eventualy destroyed the operation.

The Doctor Who Pre-Signed Prescriptions on Vacation

Dr. Evans operated a family medicine practice in Denton. Federal investigators became interested after reports that he was pre-signing opioid prescriptions for patients exhibiting drug-seeking behavior. The prescriptions were being written and filled even while Evans was out of the country on vacation.

Think about what that means as evidence. The doctor is literally on another continent. Prescriptions with his signature are being filled at pharmacies. The patients may or may not be examined by anyone. The prescriptions are being processed as if the doctor evaluated each patient and determined controlled substances were medically necessary.

Evans prescribed aproximately 370,000 dosage units of hydrocodone outside the usual course of professional practice. His absence from the country while prescriptions continued to flow wasnt some clever scheme – it was the evidence that proved no legitimate medical evaluation was occuring. Heres the lesson: your physical presence matters.

Heres the lesson for every Dallas practitioner. Your prescribing practices have to withstand scrutiny of every individual prescription. “I was on vacation” is not just an excuse that doesnt work – its affirmative evidence that the prescriptions werent based on legitimate evaluation. Your presence, your examination, your judgment – these have to be documentable for every controlled substance prescription you write.

50,000 Prescriptions Without Examination

Dr. Clinton Battle of Arlington issued more then 50,000 controlled substance prescriptions over five years. 17,000 of those were for hydrocodone. Investigators found that Battle issued prescriptions for controlled substances – including hydrocodone, alprazolam, acetaminophen with codeine, tramadol, and phentermine – “without conducting any medical examination at all.”

Not inadequate examination. Not abbreviated examination. No examination at all.

A 68-year-old physician with decades of experience writing prescriptions without seeing patients. Heres the math that proves impossable medicine. 50,000 prescriptions over five years is roughly 27 per day, every day, with no weekends or vacations. Even if each prescription took only five minutes including documentation, that would be over two hours daily just writing prescriptions without examining anyone. The volume alone demonstrated that legitimate medical practice wasnt occuring.

The absence of examination transforms prescribing from medicine to distribution. Its not about wheather the prescriptions were for appropriate drugs or appropriate doses. If theres no examination, theres no medicine. The prescriptions become pure distribution of controlled substances regardless of what the paperwork says.

Battle was convicted of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of a controlled substance. The conspiracy charge means prosecutors argued he worked with others to facilitate the scheme. The distribution charge means they proved he handed out controlled substances without legitimate medical purpose.

Fort Worth Tactical Diversion Squad

The DEA maintains a Fort Worth Tactical Diversion Squad – a specialized unit whose entire focus is investigating controlled substance diversion. This isnt a general DEA office handling drug trafficking and other matters. Its a dedicated team that builds cases against prescribers, pharmacists, and distributors.

Operation Wasted Daze came from this unit. The investigation that produced 46 convictions was built by agents who specialize in exactly this kind of case:

• They know the patterns
• They know how to identify complicit pharmacies
• They know how to trace recruitment networks
• They know how to flip low-level participants into witnesses against doctors

When your prescribing controlled substances in Dallas-Fort Worth, this is the enforcement reality. A specialized squad exists specificaly to investigate practitioners like you. There success is measured by cases like Operation Wasted Daze – dozens of convictions, millions of pills, years of prison time.

The tactical nature of the squad means they approach these investigations strategicaly. They dont just identify one suspicious doctor and prosecute. They identify networks. They trace the pill flow from prescription to street sale. They build cases simultaneously against everyone involved. The 46 defendants in Operation Wasted Daze werent prosecuted one at a time – they were arrested together in a coordinated takedown.

The Trinity Cocktail Civil Case

While criminal prosecutions generate headlines, civil enforcement operates in paralel. In 2025, a federal court prohibited two Dallas-area physicians – Cesar Pena Rodriguez and Leovares Mendez – from prescribing opioids and imposed $1.2 million in judgments against them.

The civil case alleged they issued thousands of prescriptions including a dangerous drug combination known as the “trinity.” This is similar to the “Las Vegas Cocktail” pattern – opioids combined with benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants. The government pursued civil penalties rather then criminal prosecution, but the outcome was still devastating: permanent prohibition from prescribing controlled substances and seven-figure financial penalties.

Civil enforcement is often faster then criminal prosecution. It requires a lower burden of proof. The defendants can lose there prescribing authority and face massive financial penalties without ever being charged with a crime. If you think criminal prosecution is the only threat, the civil cases demonstrate otherwise.

The parallel tracks – criminal prosecution through the Tactical Diversion Squad and civil enforcement through the Justice Department’s civil division – mean that problematic prescribing patterns can be attacked from multiple angles. Even if prosecutors decide not to pursue criminal charges, civil action can end your controlled substance prescribing career and impose devastating financial consequences.

Dr. Diamond and the Sherman Pain Management Practice

Dr. Howard Diamond operated pain management offices in Sherman and Paris, Texas. Beginning in 2010, he wrote prescriptions for hydrocodone, oxymorphone, methadone, fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, alprazolam, and zolpidem without a legitimate medical purpose.

That drug list tells its own story. Multiple opioids. Multiple routes and potencies. Benzodiazepines on top of opioids. Sleep medication added to the mix. The polypharmacy pattern that prosecutors characterize as intentionally dangerous prescribing.

Diamond was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, plus 10 years for health care fraud. Even accounting for concurrent sentences, the combined exposure demonstrates how prosecutors stack charges in these cases.

Pain management as a specialty has become particuarly high-risk. The legitimate medical need for opioids in chronic pain treatment collides with federal enforcement priorities around opioid prescribing. Practices that might have operated for years without scrutiny now face investigation as DEA resources focus on prescribing patterns. If your operating a pain management practice in Dallas, your in the highest-risk specialty in the highest-risk jurisdiction.

The Strike Force Since 2011

Dallas and Chicago were added to the Medicare Fraud Strike Force network in the same 2011 expansion. Both cities became major prosecution centers. But Dallas developed a particular reputation for home health fraud that persists to this day.

Heres the uncomfortable truth about Strike Force jurisdiction. The prosecutors you face have 14 years of experience building healthcare fraud cases in this specific region. They know the patterns – the home health certification mills, the genetic testing schemes, the pain management pill mills. They have institutional knowledge from prosecuting cases like Roy ($375 million), Novus ($27 million), and Spectrum/Reliable ($300 million). Your case wont be there first rodeo. It will be handled by prosecutors who have seen hundreds of variations of whatever scheme they beleive your running.

The Strike Force is a partnership among:

• The DOJ Criminal Division
• U.S. Attorneys Offices
• FBI
• HHS Office of Inspector General
• DEA

That multi-agency coordination means investigations share information across law enforcement components. The DEA diversion investigator who audits your prescribing records coordinates with FBI agents who examine your billing patterns. The HHS-OIG investigator who interviews your patients shares findings with prosecutors evaluating criminal charges.

This coordination is why Dallas investigations produce such comprehensive cases. Operation Wasted Daze didnt just prosecute doctors – it prosecuted the entire ecosystem. The Novus case charged 13 defendants. The multi-agency approach means that when investigation begins, everyone connected to a suspicious practice becomes a potential target.

What Actually Protects Dallas Practitioners

If your prescribing controlled substances in Dallas-Fort Worth, your operating in the jurisdiction of a Tactical Diversion Squad that just convicted 46 defendants in a single operation. An oncologist got 20 years. A family medicine doctor pre-signed prescriptions while vacationing abroad. A physician wrote 50,000 prescriptions without examining anyone. What actualy protects you?

First: Understanding that examination is not optional. Dr. Battle’s 50,000 prescriptions without examination became the centerpiece of his prosecution. Every controlled substance prescription must be based on an examination you actualy conducted. Documentation without examination is fraud.

Second: Physical presence when prescriptions are issued. Dr. Evans’s vacation prescriptions proved no legitimate evaluation was occuring. If prescriptions with your name continue to flow while your out of the country, your practice has a structural problem that will become criminal liability.

Third: Knowing your patient population. Homeless people recruited to pose as patients became the witnesses in Operation Wasted Daze. If your seeing large numbers of new patients who pay cash, want controlled substances, and seem to arrive through some referral system you dont fully understand – those patients are building the case against you.

Fourth: Polypharmacy awareness. The drug combinations that trigger investigation – opioids plus benzodiazepines plus muscle relaxants, the “trinity” or “Las Vegas Cocktail” – appear in case after case. If your prescribing these combinations, your documentation must establish specific clinical reasons for each drug in each patient.

Fifth: Staff and pharmacy relationships. The 46 convictions included pharmacists and clinic staff alongside doctors. The people who work with you and fill your prescriptions can become defendants. They can also become witnesses. Your practice relationships have to withstand scrutiny of wheather everyone involved knew the prescribing was problematic.

Thats the reality of prescribing controlled substances in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025. A Tactical Diversion Squad builds cases that produce dozens of simultaneous convictions. An oncologist’s specialty didnt protect him. A doctors absence from the country while prescriptions continued proved criminal intent. And civil enforcement runs paralel to criminal prosecution, meaning even practitioners who avoid indictment can face permanent prescribing bans and million-dollar penalties.

The practitioners who navigate Dallas’s enforcement environment successfuly share common characteristics:

• They document every examination contemporaniously – not after the fact, not when investigation begins, but at the time of service
• They understand that certification paperwork carries the same liability as prescriptions – Dr. Roy got 35 years for signing home health certifications
• They recognize that staff relationships matter – clinic managers, nurses, and pharmacists can become co-defendants or goverment witnesses
• They understand that the Strike Force’s 14 years of experience in this specific jurisdiction means the prosecutors they face have seen every variation of problematic practice

What dosent protect Dallas practitioners: assuming that prescribing controlled substances is the only path to prosecution. Dr. Roy never prescribed a single controlled substance in the scheme that generated his 35-year sentence. What dosent protect you: assuming that civil enforcement is less serious then criminal. The $1.2 million civil penalties against the trinity cocktail prescribers ended there careers as effectivly as prison. What dosent protect you: assuming that 14 years of Strike Force enforcement has created predictable patterns. The 2025 takedown included genetic testing fraud, EEG testing fraud, home health fraud – the schemes evolve while the prosecution expertise remains. If your practicing medicine in Dallas and you havent considered how your practice looks to investigators who have built cases against 48 Texans in a single year, that consideration needs to start now.