Clinic owner, physician face federal charges

A physician and the owner of several pain clinics are facing trial in February on federal charges that they doled out pain pills to drug addicts and cheated Medicare out of more than $200,000.

Two clinic employees have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs, including oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone and alprazolam. The two - Carl and Sarah Ehresman - also have agreed to cooperate with the government.

Jeffrey Friedlander, 51, a doctor certified in internal medicine, neurology, pain management and vascular medicine, and clinic owner Troy Wubbena, 44, operated pain clinics in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Sarasota, Orlando and Jacksonville under the name Neurology and Pain Center, according to court documents.

The clinics were targeted in a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office undercover investigation beginning in September 2008. Two detectives, wearing recording devices, visited clinics six times, according to court filings.

Each time, the detectives were given prescriptions with "no meaningful physical examination" and no diagnostic tests or verification of their complaints. There was also no discussion of alternative treatment methods, no assessments of risk or abuse, no referral for physical therapy and no discussion of a treatment plan, court documents state.

One of the detectives never met with Friedlander, the only physician working at the clinics, and the other had just a brief discussion with him concerning whether the detective had any pain, court documents state.

Instead, the detectives met with Wubbena, a licensed physician's assistant, or with Carl Ehresman, 43, or his wife, Sarah, 44. Carl Ehresman was licensed as an emergency medical technician and radiologic basic machine operator. His wife was a clinic employee but not a licensed medical professional.

The state Department of Health has issued an emergency suspension of Wubbena's license. Carl Ehresman's licenses are listed as clear and active.

According to an indictment, the defendants gave prescriptions to patients knowing they were addicts or were misusing or abusing the drugs. They knew the patients were seeking additional drugs to support their own habits or to give to others.

The defendants used pre-signed blank prescription forms, filling in the name and quantity of the drugs to be dispensed, the indictment states.

The indictment also accuses Friedlander and Wubbena of submitting falsified paperwork to Medicare in 2006, representing that certain procedures were performed when they weren't.

Carl Ehresman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs Oct. 22. His wife pleaded guilty today. The couple are from St. Petersburg.

Friedlander and Wubbena are scheduled to go on trial Feb. 1. The trial is expected to take three to four weeks.