Upper Marlboro Doctor Convicted In 'Pill Mill' Scheme Operating Out Of DC Practice

UPPER MARLBORO, MD — A physician from Upper Marlboro who practiced in Washington, D.C., has been found guilty of operating a "pill mill."

Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, M.D., 65, was found guilty by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in connection with illegally distributing prescriptions for narcotics in exchange for cash from his Northwest Washington D.C. medical clinic.

The jury found Okafor guilty of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances (outside the practice of medicine), maintaining a drug-involved premises and 22 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances (oxycodone and promethazine with codeine). A sentencing hearing has been set for June 20.

According to court documents and evidence at trial, between May 2021 and April of 2023, Okafor was the sole practitioner and owner of Okafor Medical Associates, an internal medicine clinic in Northwest Washington, D.C. The USAO and FBI began investigating Okafor for illegal distribution of controlled substances after it received information from law enforcement agencies nationwide regarding prescriptions from Okafor being connected to local drug trafficking networks.

Between February 18, 2022, and November 30, 2022, the FBI sent confidential sources and undercover agents into Okafor’s medical practice for walk-in appointments. Each individual was prescribed opioids by Okafor after minimal examination. Further investigation revealed that Okafor was operating a nationwide drug distribution scheme, whereby he would prescribe opioids to numerous individuals using false identities, whom Okafor knew to be diverting the medication, court documents showed.

Okafor’s dealing spanned at least 45 states and resulted in hundreds of thousands of units of oxycodone and promethazine with codeine liquid prescribed nationwide. Okafor was convicted of distribution of opioids to undercover sources, numerous uncharged co-conspirators and to a civilian patient J.V. Okafor was also convicted of conspiracy and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Evidence at trial further established that, after Okafor was notified by the D.C. Board of Health that J.V.’s family member filed a complaint against him, he created backdated medical records for J.V. in an attempt to justify his prescribing. The investigation also resulted in the immediate suspension of Okafor’s DEA registration number in September 2023 as he was deemed to be a threat to public health and safety, court documents showed.