"El Chapo de los opioides": the family doctor who made his fortune by illegally filling narcotics

An important New Jersey family doctor was accused of illegally selling drugs to his patients via SMS, while they knew they were addicted.

He is now facing a long stay in a federal prison and fined over one million dollars.

Dr. Robert Delagente is introduced as a specialist in family medicine with 17 years of experience and recognitions for his excellent attention to his patients.

However, for the federal prosecutor is a criminal in white coat who made a fortune selling illegal drugs illegally, even he called "El Chapo de los Opioides".

Delagente appeared in federal court lAfter being accused of having distributed opioids without legitimate medical reason and to have falsified medical records to conceal it.

If the accused, who had been working since May 2014 at the North Jersey Family Medicine Family Clinic in Oakland, New Jersey, is found guilty of the charges, he was facing a 30-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $ 1.25 million.

The 45-year-old doctor has also been described as "The man of sweets"in conversations with her clients, the prosecution indicated that she had prescribed medication using text messages.

Some of the narcotics that he gave them were oxycodone, Percocet, Tylenol with codeine, Xanax, Valiumas well as substances called benzodiazepines (alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam and temazepam).

The Ministry of Justice in a statement explained that Delagente "He ignored the danger and medical risk of drug overdose, drug abuse and death that may accompany opioid prescriptions resulting in heavy addiction."

The doctor prescribed to patients a badtail of medications called "La santísima trinidad", which is a mixture of narcotic, tranquilizer and muscle relaxant.

"In fact, Delagente prescribed controlled substances to patients knowing that they were dependent on opioids or other controlled substances", says the prosecution.

Faced with the opioid epidemic in the United States, the federal government has put several health professionals on the dock for the trafficking of illicit substances.

In the case of "Chapo de los opioides", the The authorities claim that he has never supervised his patients to detect their addiction to the drug.

In court documents, the case of a person who, on May 27, 2016, sent a message to Delagente warning him: "I probably can not stop the use of painkillers", to which he replied, "I would need a plan to stop."

Three months before, the patient told him that he was taking only 1 or 2 tablets a day because they had removed the "nerves" and denied that he was consuming too much. "I only use them to relieve pain, not to use drugs," he badured the doctor.

On June 3 of this year, when the patient could not get pain medication, he wrote again to Delagente: "If I spend 4 days without (painkillers), I am in a big problem".

Delagente replied: "I leave you a recipe for you to pick it up at the counter". He then prescribed 120 tablets of Oxycodone, an addictive opioid, that he could consume for 30 days.

After another conversation, the doctor admitted that he was putting his career in jeopardy: "I take a risk and I can lose my medical license or (be) arrested for what I have just done. "

Another person would have prescribed at least seven times a dose to prepare the badtail of "La santísima trinidad", between April and 2014 and July 2017.

In January 2018, the same patient asked for more medicines by SMS, Delagente replied: "No problem, I will print the recipes and they will be ready at the counter".

With another patient, he said that he did not want to arouse suspicion, because of the amount of painkillers that he had prescribed for this and his mother. He suggested taking the pills on different dates.

On a website that advertises and qualifies doctors, most Delagente patients gave it a score of 4.3 stars out of 5. They consider their services to be excellent and have won the "Patient Choice Award".

However, youSome comments they describe as corrupt: "The police must investigate (…) I just want to make money easy," reads in the page.

Another person wrote in June of this year: "He does not listen, he does not care, he just wants to do an badysis after the other. Then, when the bill arrives, he says, "Do not worry, they will not charge you" ".

The authorities also accused the doctor of allegedly altering the medical records of patients to whom opioids had been prescribed.