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Doctors Charged in 'Pill Mill': Pharmacist Also Arrested

Two doctors and a pharmacist are among four suspects accused of running a secret drug operation with $10 million in assets and a street reputation for satisfying a junkie’s fix, authorities said.

“Basically this place was a pill mill,” said Ralph Holiman, Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Dr. Thomas T. Trieu is accused in an indictment of dispensing powerful pain medicine without conducting exams on customers at Family Medical Center, said Joel Reece, DEA assistant special agent.

“When you do that, you’re just distributing narcotics – almost the same as somebody on the street would,” Reece said.

Authorities believe more charges could follow after federal agents investigate if drug overdoses played a part in the deaths of several of Trieu’s patients.

“The big story here is we ain’t finished working on it,” Holiman said.

Federal and local authorities seized a vanload of medical records from Family Medical Center and Tran’s Pharmacy, which is next door.

Charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics are: Trieu, his wife, Dr. Thu-Hoa Victoria Van, his brother, Richard Trieu, Family Medical Center office manager, and Nick Tran, owner of Tran’s Pharmacy.

Some of the patient visits would last no more than four minutes, Reece said. It was common for Trieu to have up to 200 patients a day, each paying $100 if it was their first visit, and $80 a visit after that.

“It looks like the vast majority of his business was just this,” Reece said.

The word about the business spread quickly to junkies across this state, Alabama and Florida, investigators said, and neighbors began flooding police with complaints.

“There’s always a huge crowd of people here,” said Reece. “People come and go quickly. A lot of junkies hanging around.”

After conducting a yearlong investigation, authorities served arrest warrants at the businesses at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. About 20 local, state and federal agencies assisted in the investigation.

Trieu and his wife, according to the indictment, will have to surrender their medical licenses. Tran will lose his pharmacy license.

The suspects are due to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Roper Sr. today for a temporary detention hearing.

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