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Affidavit Details Prescription OD Victims, Investigation Of Doctor
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Published: July 18, 2008
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TAMPA - Terry Underwood remembers when his wife found their son's body.
Timothy Underwood had gone out the night before with friends, his father said. Sometime before morning, someone brought the 23-year-old construction worker home.
He died while lying in the back seat of his car in the driveway.
"We didn't even know he was there until we woke up and found him," said Terry Underwood, a route driver for a convenience store chain who lives in Seffner. "He made it home."
The cause of his death May 11 was an accidental overdose of two prescription drugs: alprazolam and oxycodone. He had gotten a prescription for the alprazolam, also known as Xanax, just four days earlier from a doctor named John Mubang.
Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives have tied Mubang to at least three other accidental overdose deaths since 2006 in an investigation that led to a raid this week of the doctor's Seffner clinic.
Mubang, former medical director of the Hillsborough County Jail, was arrested Wednesday on charges of prescribing drugs for monetary gain and trafficking controlled substances.
In an affidavit released today, detectives named four victims including Underwood. The others:
"I touched him and I knew he was gone," said Betty Grogan of Brandon.
Her son was addicted to prescription medications, she said. A medical examiner's report found Michael Grogan died of an accidental overdose of morphine, alprazolam, carisoprodol, temazepam and doxepin.
Mubang is listed as Grogan's last attending physician, according to the affidavit.
A vehicle accident 31 years earlier had left Grogan with a battered body and severe head injuries, his mother said. He frequently sought medicine from Mubang and other doctors.
"It seems like the doctor would have checked to see what else he was taking," Betty Grogan said.
A Tampa Tribune investigation also uncovered another victim, 21-year-old Carl Hyder. Records show he died of the combined effects of alcohol, hydrocodone and alprazolam.
Investigators found drugs prescribed by Mubang two days earlier: hydrocodone, a pain killer, and alprazolam, as well as carisoprodol marketed under the brand name Soma.
Mubang, 57, originally from Cameroon, Africa, operates a corporation called Jerik University at 741 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Seffner, public records show. Corporation officers are listed as Mubang, president; his wife Angeline Mubang, vice president; and 16-year-old Fred Mubang, treasurer.
Angeline Mubang also is a registered nurse, according to the affidavit.
John Mubang also has a medical license in Pennsylvania and received his medical degree from Hahnemann University, Wilkes Barre, Pa., according to the Florida Department of Health.
The affidavit outlines an investigation that began in February and lasted until May, following telephone complaints from anonymous callers who had loved ones addicted to prescription drugs.
Mubang was mentioned as the prescribing practitioner, according to sheriff's Detective Karen Cain. Cain said she also had been contacted by two news reporters including the Tribune's Elaine Silvestrini, who had learned from public records that Mubang was the prescribing practitioner in overdose deaths.
Undercover detectives visited Mubang 13 times, paying $110 to $135 per visit. They told the doctor they had been in car accidents, but never showed any evidence of injuries.
Each time, they walked away with narcotics prescriptions, the affidavit said. Mubang barely examined them and one time asked a detective about how his right arm was doing when it was his left arm that he said hurt, the affidavit said.
The waiting room was described as "a social event" where everyone talked about how easy it was to get prescriptions. Some patients were trying to barter their medicines, detectives said.
Investigators seized computers, patient names and records of deceased clients, but they did not take current medical records, authorities said.
For the victims' families, Mubang's arrest brings some relief.
"We are very, very pleased," said Terry Underwood, who described his son, Timothy, as a loving person. "It's been a hard 12 months."
WFLA News Channel 8 Reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com
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