Five Indicted in Michigan, Including Three Doctors, Over Alleged 'Cash Only' Detroit Clinics That Issued More Than 2.4 Million Opioid Doses
Detroit, Michigan: An indictment unsealed on Thursday charges five individuals, including three doctors, with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drug-controlled substances and related drug and money laundering offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced. U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. announced the charges together with the Drug Enforcement Administration's Detroit Field Division and IRS Criminal Investigation.
Charged in the indictment are Clara Wilkerson, 65, formerly of Bloomfield Hills; Latanya Wallace-Hardiman, 53, of Detroit; Dr. Luis Rodriguez, 53, currently of Orlando, Florida; Dr. Nayantara Jnananand, 59, of Plymouth; and Dr. Prashanti Franklin, 49, of Okemos.
The indictment alleges that from 2018 through September 2024, Wilkerson used her companies, CRW Worldwide, LLC and CRW Development, Inc., to recruit and pay doctors to illegally prescribe controlled substances at fraudulent medical clinics. Wallace-Hardiman owned and operated one of the clinics, the Woodward Boulevard Medical Building (WBMB) in Detroit, where the three doctors worked at various times and allegedly prescribed high-street-value opiates such as Oxycodone 30mg and Oxymorphone 40mg. WBMB was a 'cash only' clinic where 'patients' paid $250 to $500 in cash for a visit that resulted in a prescription for the requested pain medication; recruiters allegedly paid 'patients' to see the doctor and then collected the pills for the street market. During 2021 to 2024, doctors at WBMB issued prescriptions for over 500,000 dosage units of Schedule II controlled substances worth over $4.6 million on the street, while doctors at another fraudulent clinic, P & A Aftercare, issued over 1.9 million dosage units worth over $10 million, the indictment alleges.
Wilkerson and Wallace-Hardiman are also charged with money laundering conspiracy and related counts. The maximum penalty for the drug conspiracy and related offenses is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. The U.S. Attorney's Office emphasized that an indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty at trial. The case was investigated by the DEA and IRS Criminal Investigation.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：底特律Theodore Levin联邦法院大楼（资料图）。Andrew Jameson摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经维基共享资源。Photo: The Theodore Levin United States Courthouse in Detroit (file photo), by Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
