2 Jax doctors charged in pill mill raid

Seven doctors and seven clinic owners, which included two firemen, were charged on state racketeering violations spanning across Florida.

Two of those doctors have offices in Jacksonville.

Dr. Susan Helen Yandle, 48, who has a family practice at 7820 Baymeadows Road East, and Dale Gatlin, 59, of Jacksonville Back and Spine at 1845 University Blvd., were among those charged in "Operation Pill Street Blues."

Those charged are facing 144 violations of Florida statutes, which include the following offenses: racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, manslaughter, trafficking in a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance (28 grams or more), delivery of a controlled substance, illegally prescribing a controlled substance by a practitioner, illegally prescribing a controlled substance (oxycodone hydrochloride) by a practitioner-trafficking amount, workers compensation fraud, and money laundering.

This investigation began in May 2010 when law enforcement responded to numerous community concerns regarding suspicious activities at the Stuart Pain Management in Vero Beach. During the investigation, agents traced Stuart Pain Management and eight other clinics, which spanned from Pensacola to Miami, to an organization headed by Lewis Stouffer.

The investigation further revealed Stouffer used his business sense to research public records relating to past DEA investigations such as Operation Pill Nation and Operation Oxy Alley to avoid law enforcement scrutiny. Investigators said Stouffer used his hero firefighter/paramedic image to maneuver through the system.

They said Stouffer maintained a rapport with local law enforcement and educated his co-conspirators on how to successfully report their competition as well as how to report doctor shoppers to appear as though they were legitimate pain clinics.

The seven doctors charged are responsible for dispensing over two million oxycodone 30 milligram tablets within a single year. Each doctor will be served an Immediate Suspension Orders by the DEA, which suspends their ability to prescribe, dispense and administer any controlled substance.