A Miami doctor, Armando Angulo was charged in federal court with selling prescription medicines online to Medicaid patients for over six years, costing the Medicaid program over $6.5 million in lost revenue. Authorities claim the unregulated sale of prescription medications online led to addiction and health risks for those using these drugs as well.
Angulo’s medical license was suspended during the criminal investigation, which turned out to be one of the largest in US history. The DEA amassed over two Terabytes of evidence against Angulo in its federal criminal case, which is equivalent to 625,000 copies of the novel “War and Peace.” Although a hard drive capable of storing all of this evidence can be purchased by the average consumer at a cost of only about $100, the DEA is dropping all charges against Angulo, citing excessive costs of maintaining this data on government servers.
The government claims that its decision to drop criminal charges against Angulo is mitigated by the fact that he left the United States when the investigation began, returning to his native Panama. Because Panama does not extradite its native citizens, Angulo is unlikely to return to face criminal charges in court, precluding the need to keep the data.
Surprisingly, however, the federal criminal charges were dropped “with prejudice,” which means that the case cannot be refiled, even if Angulo returns. The state of Florida does, however, have enough evidence to file separate fraud and narcotics charges against Angulo, as he remains one of that state’s most wanted criminals.
If you or a loved one is arrested on drug sales, drug possession or Medicare or Medicaid fraud charges, call Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena immediately at (949) 477-8088 for a free consultation.