Texas doctor sentenced to 12.5 years for 3 million-pill opioid mill

A Texas physician has been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for running her Kingwood medical clinic as a cash-only pill mill that issued prescriptions for more than 3 million opioid pills, according to the Justice Department.

Maryam Qayum, M.D., 68, of Montgomery County, Texas, owned and operated Recare Health Clinic and served as its sole prescriber, court documents said. Qayum sold controlled-substance prescriptions to street-level drug dealers who were referred to at the clinic as “providers.” These dealers purchased prescriptions for high-strength, highly addictive opioids, including oxycodone and hydrocodone. According to court documents, Qayum issued the prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose and often without ever interacting with the patients whose names appeared on them. She issued prescriptions for more than 3 million opioid pills between 2022 and 2025, when law enforcement shut down the clinic.

Court documents detail how Recare operated well outside the bounds of a normal medical practice, charging higher prices for prescriptions for drugs with greater street value. A prescription for 30-milligram oxycodone cost as much as $500, while hydrocodone prescriptions often cost $300. Clinic staff also frequently accepted “tips” from drug dealers to fast-track their patients and prescriptions. Investigators seized a note listing the cash price for each prescription when law enforcement executed a search warrant at the clinic.

Qayum pleaded guilty in March 2026 to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.

Four co-defendants were previously sentenced in the case. Melvin Sampson, 56, of Houston, a street-level dealer who brought patients to Recare, filled prescriptions at Surge Rx and elsewhere, and resold the drugs on the black market, was sentenced to 210 months in June 2026. Tomi-Ko Bowers, APRN, a 71-year-old nurse practitioner at Recare, was sentenced to 96 months that same month. Lester Stokes, 38, the clinic’s security guard, received 63 months. Sampson, Bowers and Stokes each pleaded guilty in March 2026 to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.

Jared Williams, RPh, 49, of Pearland, Texas, was sentenced in July 2026 to 42 months in prison. Williams was the owner and pharmacist in charge at Surge Rx, which filled illegitimate prescriptions issued by Qayum. He pleaded guilty in March 2026 to unlawfully distributing a controlled substance.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Conroe Police Department investigated the case. Acting Assistant Chief Devon Helfmeyer and Trial Attorney Emily Reeder-Ricchetti of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Alum for the Southern District of Texas, prosecuted it.

The Justice Department also noted that its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, comprising nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.