Dr. Nicolas Padron was a Dallas physician with a moderately successful practice, Padron Wellness Clinic. Located near the edge of White Rock Lake, the clinic must have been an idyllic setting to operate a drug distribution ring, at least until the feds showed up.
Authorities say Padron was part of a large group of conspirators who recruited homeless people as fake patients. Padron would give them prescriptions, typically for 120 hydrocodone pills, that were filled by an insider pharmacist and then dealt on the streets.
That pharmacist, Lisa Hollier, owner of Urban Independent Pharmacy in Dallas, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison. Padron, along with 16 other conspirators and 14 dealers, will be sentenced on September 17. Each could receive 10 years in prison and hefty fines.
According to federal prosecutors, Padron pleaded guilty in March in an unrelated case involving the filing of false Medicare and Medicaid claims. He was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $9.5 million in restitution fees.
