Overview
- A federal jury in the Southern District of Texas found Dr. Barbara Marino guilty on one conspiracy count and four distribution counts, and she faces up to 20 years in prison on each count with sentencing to come.
- Prosecutors said she wrote prescriptions for more than one million doses of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol through a cash-only clinic in a Houston strip mall, and she was paid over $400,000 by the clinic’s owners.
- Court evidence showed street dealers, known as crew leaders or runners, brought people to the clinic, filled the prescriptions at Houston-area pharmacies, and sold the pills on the street.
- Trial testimony described routine use of high-dose, short-acting opioids paired with carisoprodol for nearly every patient, including a woman in her third trimester and a man with severe mental illness.
- DEA led the investigation as DOJ’s Fraud Section and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit tried the case, which officials framed as part of a broader national crackdown on unlawful prescription schemes.