Atlanta doctor and Houston clinic owner sentenced to prison for $5M pill mill scheme
ATLANTA - A doctor and a clinic owner were sentenced this week for their roles in a pill mill scheme.
Dr. Jonathan Rosenfield, 40, of Atlanta, and clinic owner Elmer Taylor, 44, of Houston, received sentences of 10 and 12 years in prison, respectively, after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges related to the unlawful distribution and dispensing of controlled substances.
Court documents revealed that Rosenfield owned, operated, and served as a physician at two Sunnyside Medical pill-mill clinics, operating under the name Sunnyside Wellness. Taylor was a co-owner and co-operator of the clinics. The duo, along with accomplices, issued prescriptions for opioids, including approximately 752,000 pills of oxycodone and 419,000 pills of hydrocodone, using Rosenfield's name. These prescriptions were not in the usual course of professional practice and lacked a legitimate medical purpose. Individuals paid by drug dealers were often used as fake patients, and the pills were diverted to the illegal market. Between May 2018 and August 2019, the Sunnyside Medical clinics generated approximately $5,478,000 from the sale of these prescription drugs.
Sokari "Momma" Bobmanuel and Alantha Stewart, co-defendants in the case, had previously received sentences of 14 years and 10 years in prison, respectively.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Acting Special Agent in Charge David Martinez of the FBI Houston Field Office.
The case was investigated by the DEA Houston Division and FBI Houston Field Office. Trial Attorneys Monica Cooper, Ariel Glasner, and Courtney Chester of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, along with Emily Petro, formerly of the Fraud Section and currently an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, prosecuted the case.