Drug dealer sentenced to nine years for role in opioid pill mill
October 30, 2024 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor
The Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, where Michael Kent was sentenced to nine years in prison for orchestrating a major opioid pill mill that distributed over 1.2 million oxycodone pills across New York City. Photo: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia Commons
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A Brooklyn-based drug ring that distributed more than 1.2 million oxycodone pills, fueling the city’s opioid crisis, ended Wednesday with a nine-year prison sentence for its orchestrator and a closer look at the roles of complicit medical professionals who enabled the scheme.
Michael Kent, 51, was sentenced by Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn federal court for leading the four-year operation, which authorities said involved sham patients, bribed pharmacists, and a single doctor who provided fraudulent prescriptions.
Kent, who pleaded guilty last year, funneled the profits through a shell company, “Michael’s Cleaning Service,” using the funds to buy New York City properties.
“The opioid epidemic has destroyed countless families and communities in our district, New York City and across the country,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “The proliferation of pill mill clinics, like the medical office involved in this case, significantly contributes to the opioid crisis.”
Kent’s network involved about 45 paid sham patients recruited to receive medically unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions. These prescriptions, worth up to $30 per pill on the street, were filled at Brooklyn pharmacies, some of which, authorities allege, accepted cash to ignore red flags.
The investigation charged nine people, including one physician and four pharmacists. Alongside Kent, five co-defendants have pleaded guilty; three await trial next year.