Prince George’s County Woman Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Pain Pills

Department of Justice ^ | June 22, 2009 | United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of Virginia

[Larry381]

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Sheila Chappell, age 39, of Mitchellville, Md., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, health care fraud and false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This case stemmed from the ongoing Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation named Operation “Cotton Candy,” which has secured more than 170 convictions of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, patients and drug dealers relating to the distribution and use of pain pills.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Anthony J Trenga. Chappell faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when she is sentenced on Sept. 11, 2009.

According to court documents, from in or about October 2007 to August 2008, Chappell conspired with her husband, David Lewis Chappell, and others to distribute pain pills known as “OxyContin” out of her home near Lake Shore Drive in Prince George’s County, Md. Chapell received subsidized housing benefits for that home, and she falsely stated to local officials representing HUD that she was not living with her husband and a co-conspirator, both of whom had criminal histories and which would have precluded her from receiving federal subsidies. During the conspiracy, Chappell and others in the conspiracy obtained OxyContin pills through false prescriptions using the identity of real insured persons or through bribing a Silver Spring, Md., pharmacist, Vidhyanand “Vick” Mahase, who received $150 or more for each prescription.

Operation “Cotton Candy” is focused on the illegal distribution by numerous doctors, pharmacists, nurses and patients of pain medication, including the very potent, expensive and widely abused oxycodone. This OCDETF matter is supported by the FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Department of Defense; Virginia State Police; Internal Revenue Service; and Buchanan, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Tazewell, and Warren counties and Manassas City police departments, as well as numerous other state and local law enforcement in Virginia and elsewhere.

Today’s specific case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gene Rossi and Rosanne Cannon Haney on behalf of the United States.

[Larry381]

Somewhat related. My doctor has been a GP for 35 years and he tells me that the DEA has been harrassing him and many other doctors by flooding them with paperwork which forces them to explain in detail many of the prescriptions they write for pain medication. He states he is becoming so worried about these intrusions into his medical practice that he now hesitates to refill prescriptions for anything that contains narcotics or benzodiazepine.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

Maryland PING

[cyborg]

I’m an LPn at a nursing home and the new paperwork is a nightmare.

[microgood]

He states he is becoming so worried about these intrusions into his medical practice that he now hesitates to refill prescriptions for anything that contains narcotics or benzodiazepine.

My father a GP experienced the same thing before he retired. The reason for this is that the DEA failed at every other thing it tried, so they sicked them on doctors to see if they could succeed there. Again, complete failure with negative consequences, unintended or otherwise.

[KoRn]

"Somewhat related. My doctor has been a GP for 35 years and he tells me that the DEA has been harrassing him and many other doctors by flooding them with paperwork which forces them to explain in detail many of the prescriptions they write for pain medication. He states he is becoming so worried about these intrusions into his medical practice that he now hesitates to refill prescriptions for anything that contains narcotics or benzodiazepine."

Such things make it dammed near impossible for the people that really need such medicines to get them. Unless someone is literally dying, a provider will rarely prescribe anything 'stronger' than Tylenol III, and some won't even do that much.

[NatlGuardSoldier]

I’m getting fed up with the “War on Drugs”. It seems the people that suffer the most from it are doctors and injured patients that can’t get the medication that they NEED.

I came back from Iraq the 2nd time with a fractured leg (happened 2 days before we left). I have to jump through so many hoops just to get some of the pain medication that doctors prescribed me.

[dalereed]

“Unless someone is literally dying, a provider will rarely prescribe anything ‘stronger’ than Tylenol III, and some won't even do that much.”

I take oxycodone for my back pain and have no problem getting a prescription for it from my doctor.

The only hassle is that they aren't refillable and I have to get a new written prescription for every 90 pills.

[Species8472]

I watched both of my parents (my father was a hero of Normandy) die slow lingering deaths from cancer. Neither of the got the proper pain meds because of this madness. I wish the same on these “drug warriers”

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

These pain pill cops are a pain in the butt!