DEA Search Warrant Attorney

DEA Search Warrant Attorney: The First 48 Hours After a Raid, the Difference Between Form 82 and Criminal Warrants, and Why What You Say to Agents Becomes Federal Evidence

When DEA agents arrive at your practice or pharmacy with a search warrant, the investigation isn’t starting. It’s culminating. By the time agents walk through your door, they’ve already gathered evidence, built probable cause, and convinced a federal judge to issue a warrant. They’ve interviewed informants. They’ve reviewed prescription monitoring data. They’ve analyzed your prescribing patterns and compared them to peers. The investigation has been running for months – possibly years – before you knew it existed. The question isn’t whether they suspect something wrong. The question is how much evidence they already have and what you’ll add to it in the next 48 hours.

Marc Klein was a White Plains pharmacist who allegedly told DEA agents during an investigation that his employees could be called “licensed drug dealers” because “oxy pays the bills.” Those words became evidence. They appeared in the press release announcing his arrest. They’ll appear at trial. In a single 2018 New York operation, five doctors, one pharmacist, and one nurse practitioner were arrested for distributing millions of unnecessary oxycodone pills. A Brooklyn medical doctor allegedly helped distribute 1.2 million oxycodone pills over four years – and the search warrant was how the government accessed the records proving it.

What you do in the first 48 hours after a DEA raid – not the first 48 days or 48 months – shapes whether you’re charged, what you’re charged with, and how defensible those charges are. The words you speak to agents become evidence. The documents they seize become exhibits. The statements your staff make become prosecution testimony. Everything that happens in that narrow window compounds into outcomes that unfold over years. This is not an exaggeration. This is how federal healthcare investigations work.

Form 82 vs Criminal Warrant vs Administrative Warrant

Not every DEA appearance at your facility involves a criminal search warrant. Understanding the differences between the three types of DEA access tools determines your rights and your options. Get this wrong and you may waive protections you didnt know you had.

DEA Form 82 is a Notice of Inspection of Controlled Premises. When agents present a Form 82, they’re requesting your consent to conduct an administrative inspection. Heres what Form 82 explicitly states:

• You have the constitutional right to refuse consent
• You have the right to require them to obtain an administrative inspection warrant
• Consent must be voluntary
• You can withdraw consent at any time during the inspection
• And – this is the part most practitioners miss – incriminating evidence may be seized and used in criminal prosecution

Read that last sentence again. The administrative inspection – the “routine” audit – produces evidence that becomes criminal prosecution material. You consent to an inspection thinking its about compliance. The records they review become exhibits at your trial.

If you refuse consent to Form 82, the DEA must obtain an administrative inspection warrant to proceed. Heres the uncomfortable truth: administrative warrants are easy to get. Unlike criminal search warrants, administrative inspection warrants dont require probable cause. The DEA just needs to describe the nature of the investigation and the items they want to inspect. Courts routinely grant these warrants. Refusal of Form 82 dosent stop the inspection – it just delays it while they get the warrant.

A criminal search warrant is different. The DEA must convince a federal judge that theres probable cause to beleive evidence of a crime will be found at your location. This is a higher standard. If agents show up with a criminal warrant, the investigation has progressed beyond compliance concerns into criminal suspicion. You have no right to refuse a criminal warrant. Refusal is grounds for arrest.

Understanding which document agents are presenting changes everything about your response. Form 82 consent is voluntary – you have rights to refuse or withdraw consent. An administrative warrant requires compliance but limits scope. A criminal warrant means the investigation is advanced and serious. The document in the agents hands tells you were you stand.

The First 48 Hours – What Actually Matters

The first 4 to 12 hours after a raid require specific actions. Find a federal criminal defense attorney who has actualy tried healthcare cases in your district. Not your malpractice lawyer. Not a general practitioner. Someone with specific federal healthcare experience who understands DEA investigations and knows the prosecutors and judges in your district.

Heres what one experienced practitioner documented about the critical windows:

Hours 1-12: Get counsel. Dont talk to agents without attorney present. Even if you think you have nothing to hide, anything you say can be twisted against you. Answering questions of a federal agent is like testifying in federal court:

• If you hold back information, you may commit a federal felony
• If you lie, you may commit a federal felony
• If you misrepresent by describing matters in your favor, you may commit a federal felony

Hours 13-24: Document inventory discrepancies immediatly. The DEA seizure receipt will say “approximately 50 patient files” but they may have taken 127. Security footage can prove this. In multiple cases, evidence has been suppressed becuase practitioners documented that agents seized more then listed on reciepts. Photograph everything – empty file cabinets showing dust outlines were files were, missing hard drives, spaces on walls were items hung. Email these photos to your attorney with “Attorney-Client Privileged Communication” in the subject line.

Hours 25-48: Tell staff individualy they need seperate lawyers. Never do this in a group meeting. Group meetings can be characterized as “potential witness tampering” under 18 USC 1512. Staff interests may diverge from yours. What protects you might harm them. What protects them might harm you. Seperate counsel ensures everyone recieves appropriate advice.

Why Everything You Say Becomes Evidence

The pharmacist who said his employees were “licensed drug dealers” becuase “oxy pays the bills” provided prosecutors with a quote. That quote will appear in opening statements. It will appear in closing arguments. It will appear in the press release that shapes public perception of the case before trial even begins.

This isnt a unique example. This is how federal investigations work. Agents are trained to get statements. They’re trained to ask questions that seem conversational but produce admissions. They’re trained to create a comfortable atmosphere that encourages talking. And everything said becomes part of the case file.

Heres the inversion most practitioners dont understand: cooperation without counsel dosent help you avoid prosecution. It accelerates prosecution. The more you talk, the more evidence you provide. The faster you answer questions, the faster agents can build the case. The instinct to explain, to justify, to demonstrate you didnt do anything wrong – that instinct creates the evidence used against you.

Dr. Anthony Pietropinto was a Manhattan psychiatrist arrested for writing thousands of medically unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions. The allegations specify he accepted $50 to $100 in cash per visit. The investigation documented his practices before the raid. The raid provided the records that confirmed the pattern. What Pietropinto said to agents during and after the raid became part of the prosecution narrative.

Silence is not obstruction. You have the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Exercising that right – saying “I will not answer questions without my attorney present” – is legal and protected. What happens after you invoke that right is that agents document your invocation and proceed with the investigation. They dont charge you with additional crimes for staying silent. They cant use your silence against you at trial.

What Agents Seize and How to Document It

DEA search warrants have become powerful tools for rapid access to patient files, financial records, and corporate documents. Today, the goverment often takes everything. Entire computer systems seized from clinic premises. Complete patient file cabinets emptied. Financial records going back years removed.

The seizure recipt is the critical document. Agents provide a list of what they took. This recipt often uses approximate language – “approximately 50 files” or “various records.” The approximation creates problems if the actual seizure is larger then documented.

Heres why immediate documentation matters. If agents seized 127 patient files but the recipt says “approximately 50,” you have a discrepancy. That discrepancy can be proved if you document it immediatly:

• Security camera footage showing agents removing boxes
• Photographs of empty cabinets with dust outlines showing were files sat
• Witness statements from staff who observed the seizure

This documentation becomes the basis for challenges to evidence that wouldnt otherwise be possible.

The scope of seizures in healthcare cases is extreme. The Brooklyn case involving Dr. Somsri Ratanaprasatporn produced 11,000 prescriptions as evidence – documentation for 1.2 million oxycodone pills distributed over four years with a street value of $24 million. The Tennessee case involving Dr. Coffey resulted in seizure of two Mercedes-Benz vehicles and $1.3 million in cash from bank accounts. When agents raid healthcare facilities, they take everything they can document as connected to the alleged criminal activity.

Document discrepancies immediatly becuase you wont be able to document them later. Once agents leave, your opportunity to photograph the aftermath closes. Once computers are seized, you cant access security footage stored on them. The first 24 hours after a raid are when evidence of agent overreach can be preserved – and when it disapears if you dont act.

Staff Interviews – There Words Become Your Evidence

Within hours of a raid, agents will want to interview your staff. Receptionists, nurses, pharmacy technicians, anyone who works at the facility. These interviews produce witness statements that become prosecution evidence. What your staff says can incriminate you. What your staff says can incriminate themselves. The interests dont always align.

This creates a difficult situation. You cant tell staff what to say – that would be witness tampering. You cant coordinate stories – that would be obstruction. But you can:

• Inform staff that they have rights
• Tell them – individualy, not in group settings – that they should consider getting there own legal representation
• Explain that answering questions without an attorney present is voluntary

The prosecution in healthcare cases often relies heavily on staff testimony. The receptionist who describes cash payments. The nurse who observed prescribing patterns. The pharmacy technician who filled prescriptions they thought were suspicious. These witnesses provide the human narrative that turns documents into criminal evidence.

Staff members face there own legal exposure. A pharmacy technician who filled prescriptions they knew were illegitimate has potential criminal liability. A nurse who participated in schemes has exposure. When agents interview staff, they’re not just gathering evidence against you – they’re evaluating wheather staff members should be prosecuted or flipped into cooperating witnesses. The offers agents make to staff – reduced charges in exchange for testimony – happen in those first interviews.

Brooklyn, Tennessee, California – What Raids Look Like

The 2022 Brooklyn case shows the scale of healthcare criminal investigations. Between December 2018 and October 2022, defendants allegedly operated a drug distribution ring out of a medical practice on Linden Boulevard. Dr. Ratanaprasatporn, three pharmacists, and others unlawfully distributed more then 11,000 prescriptions amounting to 1.2 million oxycodone pills. Street value: $24 million. The raid was how agents accessed the records proving the operation.

In Tennessee, DEA and TBI agents raided Dr. Coffey’s clinic that he operated with his sons, along with the pharmacy next door that the DEA said Coffey co-owned. Federal agents seized his two 2014 Mercedes-Benz cars and $1.3 million in cash from his bank accounts. The pharmacys oxycodone distribution in 2016 was allegedly almost three times the state average and four times the national average. The raid produced both the records documenting distribution and the assets subject to forfeiture.

Operation Hypocritical Oath in California was a DEA-led operation that resulted in arrests of nine defendants, most of them medical professionals. The operation targeted practitioners with criminal charges, search warrants, and administrative actions leading to DEA license revocations. Search warrants were the mechanism for accessing the evidence that supported both criminal prosecution and administrative revocation.

The 2025 Operation Profit Over Patients resulted in approximately 51 arrests and 122 criminal charges targeting illegal distribution of controlled substances by medical professionals. In Texas alone, several individuals including a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, and others allegedly diverted more then 3 million opioids through a pill mill that sold oxycodone and hydrocodone prescriptions to drug traffickers for cash.

These cases share a pattern:

• Investigation develops over months or years
• Evidence accumulates from prescription monitoring databases, informant interviews, undercover operations
• Then the raid happens
• The raid is not the beginning – its the moment when agents obtain physical evidence to confirm what they already beleive they know

What happens during and after the raid determines wheather that evidence is preserved, challenged, or expanded by statements you and your staff provide.

What Actually Protects You During a DEA Raid

If DEA agents arrive at your facility, your facing a situation that requires immediate action. What actualy protects you?

First: Determine what document agents are presenting. Form 82 (Notice of Inspection) gives you the right to refuse consent and require a warrant. Administrative inspection warrant limits scope but requires compliance. Criminal search warrant means advanced investigation with probable cause established. The document tells you were you stand.

Second: Do not answer questions without counsel present. You have the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Exercise it. Say “I will not answer questions without my attorney present” and nothing more. Agents will continue there work. Thats fine. Your silence protects you; your words become evidence.

Third: Get experienced federal healthcare defense counsel within hours, not days. The first 48 hours shape outcomes. The attorney who shows up tomorrow can advise on issues that become irreversable today.

Fourth: Document seizure discrepancies immediatly. Photograph empty spaces were files were. Obtain security footage before agents seize the systems storing it. Email documentation to counsel as attorney-client privileged communication. If agents took more then the recipt says, prove it now or lose the ability to prove it ever.

Fifth: Tell staff individualy – not in groups – that they should consider getting there own counsel before answering questions. Dont tell them what to say. Dont coordinate statements. Just inform them of there rights.

Sixth: Do not surrender your DEA registration just becuase agents request it. Theres almost never a correlation between giving up a DEA license and closing an investigation. Voluntary surrender dosent protect you from prosecution. It just removes your ability to practice while prosecution proceeds.

Thats the reality of DEA search warrants. The investigation started before agents arrived. The first 48 hours determine whether your words and your staffs words expand the case against you. Marc Klein’s “licensed drug dealers” comment will follow him through trial. The doctors and pharmacists arrested in Operation Profit Over Patients face evidence seized during coordinated raids. What protects you isnt assuming the raid is the beginning – its understanding the raid is a culmination, and what happens next depends on wheather you talk, wheather you document, and wheather you get counsel before making decisions that cant be undone.