A Tomball doctor who ran a Houston strip mall clinic is now a convicted felon after a federal jury found she helped funnel more than one million opioid pills onto the street through a cash-only operation that prosecutors called a pill mill.
Dr. Barbara Marino, 65, was convicted Monday in the Southern District of Texas of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and four counts of distributing a controlled substance. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Conviction and charges
At trial, prosecutors laid out how Marino, working as the sole prescriber at a clinic called Angels Clinica, routinely issued prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol. Jurors convicted her on one conspiracy count and four distribution counts. She faces statutory maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison on each count, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
How prosecutors say Angels Clinica operated
Federal prosecutors described Angels Clinica as a cash-only operation tucked behind mirrored windows in a Houston strip mall, where so-called crew leaders, or street-level dealers, brought in people to be seen as patients. Those patients would obtain prescriptions that were then filled and resold, according to the government.
"Medical physicians who exploit their prescribing authority for profit over patient care break an inherent trust with their patients," Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said in a statement. Prosecutors also said Marino took in more than $400,000 in exchange for writing prescriptions, a summary provided by the U.S. Department of Justice states.
Dangerous prescribing, according to witnesses
Witnesses told jurors that even patients with serious medical issues received the potent opioid-and-carisoprodol cocktail. Testimony included a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy and a man diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia who were prescribed the combination.
An OB/GYN warned that mix posed real risks, and evidence showed Marino repeatedly chose the strongest short-acting versions of the medications. More than 99% of her prescriptions were for those short-acting formulations, according to FOX 26 Houston.
Part of a larger Houston crackdown
The case slots into a broader, years-long crackdown on pill mills and rogue pharmacies in the Houston area. Federal and local authorities have brought a string of prosecutions that resulted in convictions and significant prison time in other multiyear schemes.
Earlier cases exposed a familiar pattern of cash payments, pharmacy diversion and dealers recruiting supposed patients, a pattern prosecutors say showed up again in the Angels Clinica operation. Prior examples were documented by the Houston Chronicle.
What comes next
Marino will be sentenced by a federal judge, who will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other statutory factors before deciding her punishment.
The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Trial attorneys from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Fraud Section, working with the Texas Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, handled the prosecution, according to KWTX.
