The Florida Department of Health has revoked the medical license for Dr. Anil Sahijwani, 43, after he was sentenced to federal prison for illegally prescribing oxycodone, Adderall, and other controlled substances.
Sahijwani pleaded guilty on February 23, 2017.
According to court documents, Sahijwani worked at Family Medical Express Center, Inc. in Brandon, along with several co-conspirators. He and his co-conspirators implemented a plan to sell unlawful prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled substances to people who did not need them and who instead diverted them for sale in the community on a per-pill basis, court documents state.
In some cases, investigators say Sahijwani wrote prescriptions at the request of his co-conspirators in the names of people he had never examined or met. Sahijwani also sold prescriptions for oxycodone out of his car in a Tampa parking lot.
Lori Ellis, who works in the real estate office across the street, says they often saw patients running out of the clinic, yelling.
"We saw people from behind our building going over there and then coming out, screaming, ranting and raving, their arms shaking, that they wouldn't give them their drugs," she said. "That they had paid them the money but wouldn't give them their drugs."
During the course of the conspiracy, Sahijwani wrote unlawful prescriptions for over 18,000 oxycodone pills, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“As law enforcement addresses the ongoing opioid crisis, it is unconscionable that a physician would be part of the Pill Mill problem that has left its indelible mark on the Tampa area and the country,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Adolphus P. Wright. “DEA, and our law enforcement partners, will remain vigilant in finding these unscrupulous medical professionals and clinics and see to it that they are prosecuted accordingly.”
U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell sentenced Anil Sahijwani to 45 months in federal prison for illegally prescribing oxycodone, Adderall, and other controlled substances.
The Court also ordered him to forfeit his DEA registration number, $182,266.66, and the value of a personally owned Porsche, all of which constitute proceeds of the offenses, or which were used in furtherance of the offenses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel George.
The Family Medical Express office space is now listed as for sale.
