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Former Doctor Sentenced For Internet Drug Sales

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 29, 2009

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Juan Antonio Ibanez

TAMPA - A former physician who helped create a business that illegally sold $85 million worth of pain medicine over the Internet was sentenced today to four years and three months in federal prison.

Juan Antonio Ibanez, who practiced in Tampa, Haines City and Winter Haven, and his co-conspirators sold more than 50 million hydrocodone pills illegally from at least 2003 through November 2007 on at least 13 Web sites.

They hired other doctors, including some in the Tampa area, to work for businesses set up in Winter Haven, Haines City, Kissimmee, Orlando, Celebration, Lake Alfred and Costa Rica.

One co-conspirator, Barry Robert Brooks, is considered a fugitive, according to Steve Cole of the U.S. Attorney's Office. The others have not been named publicly and the investigation continues.

Ibanez has cooperated extensively with investigators and plans to continue doing so, his lawyer and a prosecutor told U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathy Peluso said she expects to return to court to ask that Ibanez's sentence be reduced because of his cooperation.

"He was what I would classify as super acceptance of responsibility," she said.

But Peluso also wanted the judge to know the effects of Ibanez's crime.

"The abuse of painkillers, prescription painkillers, is an epidemic across the nation," she said. "With the advent of the Internet, it has become almost impossible to control."

Peluso said the investigation was far-reaching, with detectives interviewing a number of high-volume, repeat customers who had substance abuse problems. Their stories, she said, were "heart-wrenching."

One, in particular, had investigators in tears, Peluso said.

A 33-year-old soccer mom from Pennsylvania charged $40,000 worth of painkillers over the Internet over two years, taking up to 40 pills a day. Eventually, she stole prescription scripts from her child's pediatrician, was caught, thrown in jail and almost lost her family.

She was just "one of many, many people whose lives this organization helped ruin," Peluso said.

Defense attorney Greg Kehoe said his client has led an otherwise exemplary life, volunteering to help hurricane victims and doing other charitable works. Ibanez is extremely remorseful, Kehoe said, and is doing what he can to make things right.

Ibanez's wife, Silvia, pleaded for leniency. She said she met her husband in 1972 when he got out of the Army after enlisting to serve in Vietnam. They have 26-year-old twins and a granddaughter.

She said her husband stood by her when she almost died of cancer a few years ago. She held up his identification card for a family health clinic where he did volunteer work.

"He's a very caring man," she said.

As part of his plea agreement, Ibanez surrendered his Florida medical license. He was also ordered to serve three years of probation after his release from prison.

Ibanez faced up to 20 years in prison.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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