The Brief
- Officials say the owner of a Kingwood clinic sold prescriptions for opioids to drug dealers who posed as “providers.”
- Five people in total were sentenced for their involvement with the clinic, according to the DOJ.
- The charges were tied to a nationwide crackdown that led to over 300 being charged for alleged healthcare fraud.
KINGWOOD, Texas – The owner of a now-closed Kingwood clinic has been sentenced after officials say she used the clinic to sell opioids to “street-level drug dealers.”
Kingwood clinic owner sentenced
What we know:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says 68-year-old Maryam Qayum was sentenced on Tuesday to 12.5 years in prison. Officials say the doctor pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.
According to the DOJ, Qayum owned the Recare Health Clinic along Loop 494 in Kingwood, just south of Kingwood Drive. The clinic was said to be used as a pill-mill where Qayum sold prescriptions for “high strength” opioids to “street-level drug dealers who were referred to Recare as ‘providers.’”…