HOUSTON – A Houston pharmacist and clinic owner were sentenced Wednesday for their roles in a $6 million pill mill scheme, the United States Department of Justice announced.
Sokari “Momma” Bobmanuel, 63, was sentenced to 14 years in prison following her conviction at trial for conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances. Alantha Stewart, 42, was sentenced to 10 years in prison following her guilty plea to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances.
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According to court documents, from May 2018 to August 2019, Bobmanuel was the owner and pharmacist-in-charge of Cornerstone Rx Pharmacy (Cornerstone), which illegally distributed nearly 160,000 opioid pills, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, often based on prescriptions issued by Jonathan Rosenfield, M.D., and others from Sunnyside Medical, which consisted of two Houston-area pill-mill clinics.
Investigators said through Cornerstone, Bobmanuel distributed controlled substances “outside the scope of professional practice, and without a legitimate medical purpose,” to individuals who brought prescriptions in the names of other people. These people then sold the pills they bought from Cornerstone illegally. Bobmanuel charged exorbitant prices for the pills – often $1,200 for a single oxycodone prescription – generating over $1 million from the scheme, the DOJ stated.
Stewart, who authorities said co-owned and co-operated the Sunnyside Medical pill-mill clinics, doing business as Sunnyside #1 and Sunnyside #2, and her co-conspirators issued prescriptions for opioids, including about 752,000 pills of oxycodone and 419,000 pills of hydrocodone, under co-owner and co-conspirator Rosenfield’s name, outside the usual course of professional practice.
“The prescriptions often were issued to individuals paid by drug dealers to pose as patients, and the pills ultimately were diverted to the illegal market,” a news release from the DOJ said. “From May 2018 to August 2019, the Sunnyside Medical clinics made approximately $5.4 million from the sale of the prescriptions of these drugs.”
Co-defendants Rosenfield and Elmer Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiracy and are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 15.
The DEA Houston Division and FBI Houston Field Office investigated the case.