Seized Assets Shared Among State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies

WALTON COUNTY, FL—United States Attorney Pamela C. Marsh announced that federal asset forfeiture sharing checks totaling more than $459,000 were distributed to state and local law enforcement agencies today at the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. This distribution is the last of over $835,000 civilly forfeited in connection with the investigation of Freeport physician Robert L. Ignasiak for health care fraud and illegally dispensing controlled substances.

Agencies receiving the funds included the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud.

The monies distributed today were derived from the civil forfeiture of $835,000 in property used by Ignasiak to facilitate his federal drug crimes. In the fall of 2008, Ignasiak was convicted of 43 counts of health care fraud and unlawful dispensing of highly addictive controlled substances, including oxycodone, morphine, fentanyl, hydrocodone, alprazolam, among others. Several witnesses who testified during the three-week trial, told the jury that they had gone to Ignasiak because they were addicts who could count on Ignasiak to prescribe the drugs they wanted. Other witnesses testified that Ignasiak’s prescribing caused them to become dependent on and even addicted to controlled substances. Ignasiak’s unlawful dispensing of controlled substances led to the drug overdose deaths of two of his patients.

In January 2009, Ignasiak was sentenced to 292 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the North Florida Health Care Fraud Task Force, which is comprised of representatives from the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Drug Intelligence Center, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Financial Services, and the Florida Department of Health. Ms. Marsh praised the work of the task force, stating, “Prescription drug abuse has become a nationwide epidemic and this Office will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who operate outside the bounds of professional practice to fuel and profit from the addictions of their patients. This case is particularly egregious as the defendant actually made his patients dependent on drug usage.”