A former Northeast-based family doctor was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Oct. 5 for furnishing outlaw motorcycle gang members and their associates with hundreds of thousands of illegal prescription painkillers in a so-called pill mill operation.
Earlier this year, a jury found William J. O’Brien III guilty of drug trafficking, conspiracy and related charges. The painkillers that O’Brien illegally prescribed resulted in at least one overdose death, prosecutors said. The trial lasted six weeks.
Evidence showed that O’Brien worked in concert with members of the Pagans motorcycle club and their associates. The doctor wrote fraudulent prescriptions in his office and issued them to visitors who did not need the medications or had not been properly examined by the doctor. O’Brien charged between $200 and $250 per visit.
The patients ultimately surrendered the pills to other conspirators, who sold the drugs illegally on the street for $25 to $30 per pill. From March 2012 through January 2015, O’Brien distributed more than 700,000 pills in furtherance of the conspiracy. The doctor personally raked in about $2 million in cash proceeds.
O’Brien was also convicted of money laundering, bankruptcy fraud and making false statements under oath.
During the period of the conspiracy, he maintained an office at 9892 Bustleton Ave., as well as one in Levittown, Bucks County. ••
