A doctor who ran a clinic in Braselton in North Georgia and another facility in Pooler near Savannah will spend the next 33 months in federal prison for illegally prescribing drugs to people who were not his patients.
According to Bobby L. Christine, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, Dr. Johnny Di Blasi, 46, of Braselton was sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully dispense controlled substances.
Di Blasi was arrested on Christmas Eve at the Miami International Airport by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Christine said Di Blasi was planning to flee to Medellin, Colombia, in an attempt to avoid prosecution.
Di Blasi, who was known as "Dr. Johnny," admitted to writing prescriptions for narcotics, including opioids and amphetamines, to non-patients – many of whom he never met. Christine said the prescriptions were written to people who traveled to Di Blasi's two clinics from at least 11 states. In addition, Di Blasi also provided and sold prescriptions for opioid pain medications and amphetamines to non-patients he met in restaurants and bars. One of those receiving prescriptions was an individual who was in prison at the time the prescription was written.
Di Blasi’s illegal practices took place for more than a year, with the DEA initiating a formal investigation in March 2018.
“Unscrupulous, profiteering medical professionals not only abuse their trust as health care providers, but feed the illicit pipeline of drugs that fuel the opioid crisis in our communities,” said Christine in a press statement. “As the arrest and prosecution of Di Blasi demonstrates, we and our law enforcement partners will be relentless in removing dangerous drug distributors from our neighborhoods, whether they are street-corner dealers or professionals who disgrace their lab coats.”
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT), with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Josephson and J. Thomas Clarkson prosecuted the case for the United States.
