Pubdate: Sat, 28 May 2005
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2005 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Mary Swerczek

KENNER PAIN CLINIC SHUT DOWN

Summonses Issued To Owner, Manager

Kenner authorities have shuttered a Chateau Boulevard pain management
clinic and summoned its owner and manager to court on charges of
operating without a license, police said Friday.

Officers said the Code Enforcement Department issued summonses to
owner Georgette Fleming, 46, of Waggaman and manager Derrick C.
Williams, 27, of New Orleans for operating a business without an
occupational license. A customer, Bonnie Reel, 44, of Kenner, was
booked with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia after police
at the clinic found her with three small bags of cocaine, said Capt.
Steve Caraway, a Police Department spokesman.

Pain management clinics have become a growing concern in the New
Orleans area this year, with several local governments banning new
ones and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raiding several
clinics and drugstores, including Michael's Discount Pharmacy in
Kenner. Some clinics issue prescriptions regardless of whether
customers need them and are blamed for an uptick in overdose deaths,
authorities say.

"We know the problems that these things have created," Caraway said,
although he added that not all pain management clinics should be
criticized. "One like this operating without a license, certainly that
causes us to become very suspicious."

Caraway said narcotics officers had a tip about "suspicious comings
and goings" at Fleming's clinic at 3535 Chateau, Suite 8, and visited
it Thursday at 3 p.m.

"It's like they were operating out of a back room," Caraway said.
"There was nothing on the door to even indicate it was a pain clinic."

He said Fleming called the business Dependable Clinic. Police think it
had been operating only a few weeks.

Fleming and Williams could not be reached for comment
Friday.

Police are investigating the clinic and could issue additional
charges, Caraway said.

"We're looking into that. Our main concern is that they didn't
continue to operate without the proper licensing," he said. 
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