VERO BEACH — The Stuart Pain Management Clinic on US 1 in Vero Beach has been shut down and its doctor arrested in connection to a statewide pill mill sting operation aimed at shuttering clinics that are allegedly over-prescribing narcotic pain pills, such as oxycodone.
Dr. Bruce Kammerman, of Palm City, who is the doctor working at Stuart Pain Management, was led out of the clinic Wednesday morning in handcuffs. The clinic is located at 1146 21st St. at US 1.
He faces charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, trafficking in a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffic, and delivery of a controlled substance, among others.
Dr. Kammerman and the 11 others arrested, along with two more who are expected to surrender themselves in 24 hours, face what amounts to life in prison, according to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Special Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and officers from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and Vero Beach Police Department descended on the clinic at the same time law enforcement agencies between Pensacola and Miami raided clinics and pharmacies in their areas, all as part of Operation Pill Street Blues.
According to DEA spokeswoman Mia Ro, all the targeted clinics and pharmacies are connected to a drug trafficking operation that uses the clinics to prescribe and dispense pills that ultimately end up sold on the street.
The owner of Stuart Pain Management, identified by law enforcement as Bruce Karlin, is expected to surrender himself to law enforcement within 24 hours, according to the DEA.
The Florida Department of Health issued two emergency suspension orders, suspending Dr. Kammerman’s practicing license and the clinic’s registration to operate as a pain management clinic.
In all, the DEA arrested 12 people in the raids statewide. And more arrests could be forthcoming as law enforcement continues to investigate.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that Florida’s law are some of the toughest now in the country, which has helped lead to a crackdown on pill mills.
“These defendants are despicable,” Bondi said, explaining that the doctors are supposed to save lives but instead were destroying lives.
“They should be held to a higher standard,” she added. “This is nothing more than a present-day drug cartel.”
The seven doctors rounded up in the operation dispensed or prescribed more than 2 million oxycodone pills in one year, according to the DEA. Dr. Kammerman alone prescribed more than 644,000 in one year’s time.
Authorities seized 59 bank accounts totaling $1.1 million as part of the operation.
Sheriff Deryl Loar said that the sting operation was the culmination of a joint investigation between both the Sheriff’s Office and the Vero Beach Police Department, which began shortly after the clinic opened, in 2010.
“It’s a safer day in Indian River County,” Sheriff Loar said Wednesday afternoon, adding that this operation was one of the largest such events Indian River County has been involved in.
Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey agreed.
“These pill mills, especially the one in Vero Beach, are masquerading as legitimate pain management facilities,” Chief Currey said, adding that they are operating out of “pure greed” and with “disregard for human life.”
All seven clinics shut down through the operation were connected, according to the DEA. Lewis Gabriel Stouffer, 32, of Coconut Creek, was identified as the leader, owning one clinic and investing in several others.
According to authorities, Stouffer, a firefighter/medic with the Pompano Beach department, provided tips and advice to the other clinics on how to appear legitimate and not raise suspicion. He received a “tribute” from or percentage of the clinics’ profits in exchange for his guidance.
Sheriff Deryl Loar said that community complaints and law enforcement observations led his and the Vero Beach Police Department to investigate the Stuart Pain Management Clinic.
One of the red flags the clinic raised, according to the sheriff, was an increase in Kentucky and Tennessee license plates. Attorney General Bondi said the route between Kentucky and Florida has become known as the “Oxy Express” because Florida has a reputation for pill mills.
Sheriff Loar said authorities also took phone calls from concerned friends and family members of patients at the clinic.
“This thing was growing legs, so to speak,” Sheriff Loar said of the clinic.
According to its Web site in 2010, it provided on-site dispensing of prescription medications, and does not accept insurance plans checks – cash and charge only. Its website now states, “No medications are kept or dispensed on site.”
In 2010, when the Vero Beach pain clinic’s owner, Bruce Karlin, was reached by phone by VeroNews.com, he declined comment.
“I’m not giving you a story,” Karlin said, adding, “You’re not getting an appointment. Go somewhere else.”
According to Stuart Pain Management Clinic’s website, Dr. Kammerman has practiced medicine for more than 25 years, after receiving medical degrees from the University of Florida and Miami School of Medicine.
“Dr. Kammerman employs a multi-disciplinary approach to pain management, focusing on improving his patient’s overall health and well-being,” the website states. “All treatments are individually suited to each patient, incorporating various modalities to lower the levels of their daily chronic pain.”
His actual treatment of patients is quite different, according to the Department of Health’s orders of emergency suspension. Documents the department released Wednesday reveal the experiences of multiple undercover agents posing as patients.
The undercover operation began in mid-2011, and included a male agent identified only as MC, who was presented with a pre-filled-out form to sign. The form had questions related to his previous doctor, medications and “doctor shopping” – none of which MC filled out.
MC told Dr. Kammerman, according to the documents, that he was “sore” from playing sports. He told the doctor that he had been “stockpiling” some of the medication a previous physician had prescribed him.
Dr. Kammerman then gave MC a physical exam consisting of having the agent raise each leg a few inches, pressing on MC’s “sore” shoulder, and having MC bend and raise his arms.
An expert working with the Department of Health reviewed video footage provided by the undercover agent and the medical file and deemed Dr. Kammerman’s treatment “failed to meet the standard of care,” calling the exam “brief” and “perfunctory.”
During a follow-up visit with Dr. Kammerman, MC’s urine test for controlled substances came back negative – which MC explained to the doctor happened because he ran out of the pills more than week before his appointment.
MC requested the doctor give him a larger prescription, which Dr. Kammerman obliged, according to the documents.
“I’ll give you a few more,” the doctor told MC – as reported in the document.