Co-conspirators sentenced in pill mill case

A Waldorf, Md. man was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and the possession with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing oxycodone. 

Thomas Dalton, 31, reached a plea agreement with the State's Attorney for the District of Maryland, admitting to owning and operating a purported pain management clinic, First Priority Health Care, LLC. in Elkridge, Md. from November 2013 to May 2015. Along with his co-conspirator Alex Mori, 31 of Nanjemay, Md., the pair distributed oxycodone to customers without legitimate medical need for such drugs. Mori and Dalton hired and supervised employees, directed financial transactions for the business, and shared the profits, with Dalton running the day-to-day operations. 

The conspirators worked to recruit patients to the facility so they could collect cash fees for office visits. "Patients" would come to the the business with false complaints of pain, filling their pain killer prescriptions and giving some or all of the tablets to a distributor in exchange for cash or oxycodone. Mori and Dalton also bought and sold oxycodone pills for profit. Dalton created fake medical records for persons who sought to obtain pills from First Priority as well.

During wiretap conversations, Dalton discussed the operations of First Priority, including the distribution of oxycodone and the overall conspiracy. According to the plea, it was reasonably foreseeable that Dalton's conspiracy could distribute more than 480,000 milligrams of oxycodone. 

Mori pleaded guilt to conspiracy to distribute and posses with intent to distribute a mixture of substance containing a detectable amount of oxycodone and has been sentenced to four years in prison.