Twenty-two people have been charged in five cases with making millions of dollars by illegally distributing prescription drugs in eastern Kentucky, where drug abuse is rampant, according to federal indictments.
The indictments were unsealed Friday in Pikeville. They charged several pain clinic owners and doctors with taking part in the alleged scheme.
The indictments detailed alleged schemes by doctors in Kentucky and Texas and pain clinic owners in Kentucky and Florida to distribute hundreds of thousands of prescription pills.
A Louisiana pain clinic owner was sentenced earlier this month to 15-years in federal prison for the illegal distribution of prescription pills in eastern Kentucky.
Prosecutors said it was the first case in which a clinic owner had been prosecuted for the offense.
