Armando Falcon, MD

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is really trying to make a name for herself and work her way up the ladder on the backs of doctors. With assistance from the DEA and Miami-Dade police, she arrested Dr. Armando Falcon, MD, a 52 y/o internist from Cutler Bay, and two of his office managers in July and charged them with operating a pill mill.

Now “pill mill” is actually a term coined by a newspaper reporter. But it caught on when the government decided to treat doctors as illegal “pill pushers” to use the Controlled Substance Act against them. And Florida grabbed the term to persecute pain management doctors in the state. Now with the amount of elderly in Florida, it is no coincidence that there is a lot of pain, which resulted in a lot of pain clinics. But the government didn’t look at these clinics with respect. Instead they looked at them with $ in their eyes.

Florida became known as the ‘epicenter’ of the nation’s ‘pill mill’ epidemic by 2010. DEA’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) reported that 98 of the top 100 oxycodone dispensing physicians in the nation were located in Florida. Today, however, none of the top 100 dispensing physicians reside in Florida. I wonder what happened to them and their patients.

2011 Anti-Pill Mill Bill

In 2011, Attorney General Bondi worked with the Florida Legislature to pass the 2011 Anti-Pill Mill Bill to crack down on pain management clinics. Click here to read about the legislation. Her short-term goals were:

1. Enhanced criminal penalties
2. Administrative enforcement with new “get tough” regulations on pain clinics and doctors
3. Increased criminal prosecutions through partnerships between the Office of Statewide Prosecution and State Attorneys for high drug-trafficking areas

Long-term goals were:

1. Support for Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
2. Prevention strategies (school prevention and “drug take back” events)
3. Substance abuse treatment via Florida’s drug courts.

Attorney General Bondi led a strong supply reduction policy through the use of a combination of criminal, civil and administrative sanctions and the creation of the statewide Drug Strike Force. The regional Strike Forces pull various local and state law enforcement agencies together to share resources and leverage intelligence analysis to then attack the doctors they target.

First, part of that is the use of the Prescription drug Monitoring Program to target doctors who prescribe the most, regardless of the legitimacy of the doctor’s practice.

Second, the Attorney General is trying to change cultural norms regarding pharmaceutical drug use. She fits the profile of
       1. Treating all opioid users as if they are addicts.

“Once we are successful in shutting down Pill Mills there will be a need to treat those who are addicted.”

2. Using drug courts for those that actually are marketing illegal drugs, while legitimate doctors spend their lives in prison.

Gee, I wonder if she holds stock in residential rehab companies or Buprenorphine/Naloxone pharmaceutical companies.

So What is a Pill Mill?

A “pill mill” is a doctor’s office, clinic, or health care facility that routinely conspires in the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances outside the scope of the prevailing standards of medical practice in the community or violates the laws of the state of Florida regarding the prescribing or dispensing of controlled prescription drugs.

The government considers an office a “pill mill” if it has any of the following characteristics:

1. cash-only/no insurance;
2. no appointments;
3. armed guards;
4. little or no medical records;
5. grossly inadequate physical examinations;
6. large prescription doses of narcotics that exceed the boundaries of acceptable medical care.

Back to the case of Dr. Falcon

Dr. Falcon owned and operated Pain Center of Cutler Bay. The involved agencies say that he used the office as a cover to illegally sell large quantities of opioids.

Supposedly the government conducted 16 undercover visits to the clinic so they could make the claims against him, like:

1. Accepted only cash payments (It’s not criminal to take cash, and avoiding insurance allows the practitioner more freedom for treating the poor, for example)
2. Short visits. (It doesn’t take much time to maintain a treatment plan that is working.)
3. Writing and filling prescriptions for 150 30 mg oxycodone pills. (That allows for 5 doses per day, which is not unreasonable)

He used the income from the clinic to purchase beach apartments, boats, expensive cars and houses.  (So when is making money a crime in America? I thought it was the land of opportunity. And if you have the money, is it a crime to enjoy spending it?  I’m sure Ms. Bondi was slobbering at the mouth thinking of all those forfeitures.

The attorney general’s office charges that Falcon saw between 20 to 25 patients daily and took in more than a million dollars a year from this scheme. That number of patients is basically what it takes for any clinic to pay its bills and make a living. It is not an exorbitant amount, and in fact, he could have legitimately seen a lot more. And a million dollars a year?  Surgeons make more than that, so are they going to be the next target? Do we have to tell primary care or office specialties now, “ Oh, you better not make more than $500,000 or the government will attack you? They are doing that basically, to anyone taking government insurance as another way to make money.  Fie on you!!

Another government ploy in these attacks is the additional charges against office employees. Falcon’s office managers at the clinic, Claudia Centeno and Reveka Karagianni, were also arrested, charged with two counts of racketeering and trafficking, and held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on bail. They were charged with printing prescriptions for the doctor in preparation for the patient visits in an effort to expedite the process.  But since the prescription isn’t legal until it is signed and issued to the patient, this should not be a legal matter. But they will use whatever ploy they can to scare employees into testifying against the main party—the doctor.  Wouldn’t a couple days in a rotten stink hole jail pretty much make anyone a willing participant in a perjured testimony?  If you don’t believe me, read Chapters 8 & 16 of Licensed to Lie.

Bottom Line:

Falcon, Centeno and Karagianni face charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, trafficking oxycodone, money laundering, continuing a criminal enterprise, and structuring transactions to evade reporting, according to the arrest report.

These are all charges based on the Controlled Substance Act, designed and written to attack offshore drug cartels, not legitimate doctors’ offices. Multiple SC decisions have supported that, and yet now the higher courts look th

e other way as lower courts haul in the dough attacking innocent physicians. To understand more about how this law is being used illegally, get my Ebook Using the Law Illegally Against Doctors.

And finally,
If you are tired of the government overreach into your doctor’s office, government attacks on innocent physicians, government causing more addiction, suicides and overdoses based on these attacks, you need to come on board Doctors of Courage and support our getting the truth out to America.

And what should Doctors do? They are playing their game on our backs. All we have to do is STAND UP!

Addendum

Dr. Falcon appears to still be in practice, with a website, LinkedIn and Doximity account and a medical license through 2024.  It appears he is now prescribing marijuana and cannabis.

Dr. Falcon, you need to join us on Doctorsofcourage to get the Controlled Substance Act repealed.

To end these attacks, restore pain management, and provide compensation to all the families that have been destroyed by government overreach, we must get the Controlled Substance Act repealed.  Join Doctorsofcourage to get that done. Learn what we teach and spread the word.  NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!! Let’s end the War on Drugs, Doctors and Pain Patients, end the black market, solve the southern border crisis, and restore proper pain management.  It CAN be done! 

Addendum from the author:

I have failed in my mission to end these attacks on doctors and pain patients. Through John Bevere’s book The Bait of Satan, I have figured out why—my lack of forgiveness to those who attacked me. As in Mark 11: 24-26:

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

And when you do not do the will of the Father, you are estranged from him and he will ignore you.  So we all must forgive the agents who attacked us in order for things to be made right through any of our works.

Jesus said

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

But we cannot lay down our lives for God unless we know Him well enough to trust Him. We must have the assurance that He would never do anything to harm us. He always looks out for what He knows is in our best interest. As a nation, those of us suffering from these attacks must understand that we are serving as God’s messengers of love.  We must forgive those who persecute us and love them instead, following God’s will for us. Then and only then will we see fruits from our labor.

So I hope that everyone who has suffered from what happened to the doctor can trust the Lord, forgive those who have hurt you, and help bring this country back to the God-fearing country that our forefathers founded. Then, and only then, can you be a part of the effort to stop these attacks. I look forward to that day.