Georgia doctor, 2 pharmacists among 13 charged in illegal pill mill operation

ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta doctor, two pharmacists and 10 others have been charged with operating an illegal pill mill, according to a federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Investigators said Anthony Mills, M.D., was a licensed physician with a specialty listed with the Georgia Composite Medical Board of Gynecology.

However, court documents show that Mills didn’t have a gynecology practice at any address listed with the medical board. Investigators said instead he operated a pill mill out of his Atlanta-area home and sold many of the pills to men, despite his gynecology specialization.

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Mills is accused of selling prescriptions to addicts and drug-dealing sponsors in exchange for cash payments.

Investigators said some of the prescriptions belonged to people who had stolen identities, who were incarcerated at the time of the prescription, or who were dead at the time of the prescription.

“While in the midst of this country’s prescription opioid epidemic, removing and ultimately eliminating physicians who recklessly overprescribe pharmaceutical pills (particularly prescribed opioids) for non-medical reasons, is an important part of DEA’s mission,” said Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “This pill peddling gynecologist allegedly distributed large quantities of opiate-based pills to scores of drug-seeking patients. He, and his accomplices, will no longer be able to commit such unlawful acts thanks to spirited law enforcement cooperation.”

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The indictment says that pharmacist Raphael Ogunsusi operated two pharmacies for the purpose of distributing the pills. Moses Kirigwi is another pharmacist who is facing charges.

Federal investigators said Ogunsusi and Kirigwi often charged over $900 to fill a single prescription for oxycodone and $500 to fill a prescription of Percocet, well above the market value for legal prescriptions.

The following have been arrested and arraigned on federal drug charges for their respective roles in operating the pill mills:

• Anthony Mills, 55, of Atlanta, Georgia,
• Raphael Ogunsusi, 69, of Conyers, Georgia,
• Moses Kirigwi, 29, of Brookhaven, Georgia,
• Thomika Riley, a/k/a TJ, 48, of McDonough, Georgia,
• Brittany Tinker, 28, of Lithonia, Georgia,
• Natalie Jackson, 37, of Stone Mountain, Georgia,
• Rogerick Smith, a/k/a Fasho, 43, of Douglasville, Georgia,
• Keandre Bates, 29, of Decatur, Georgia,
• Chafulumisa Lisbon, a/k/a Chafu, 31, of Atlanta, Georgia,
• Javon Hamilton, 32, of Bluffton, South Carolina,
• Marcena Jordan, 28, of Forrest Park, Georgia.

Investigators are still searching for two defendants in the case: 41-year-old Jeana Alston of Atlanta and 30-year-old Travious Polain of Decatur.

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