HILO — A doctor and four employees from the Bade Medical Clinic in Hilo were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury.
Dr. Ernest Bade, 80, was charged with 40 counts of “distribution of a controlled substance outside the normal scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medial purpose,” according to a statement from the attorney general’s office in Honolulu.
Bade and his office manager, Yvonne Caitano, 54, were charged with conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances.
Caitano and Sheena Strong, 32, an office assistant, were charged with a separate conspiracy to further distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Caitano, Strong, and two other office assistants — Marie Benevides, 80, and Theresa Saltus, 59 — were charged with conspiring to obtain controlled substances through misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge.
According to the indictment, law enforcement received information from several sources that Bade was prescribing unusually large quantities of controlled substances, including powerful narcotics, sedatives, and opioids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, fentanyl, and morphine.
Based on this and other information, an undercover agent posing as a patient met with Bade at his clinic a number of times. The indictment alleges that during these appointments, Bade provided the undercover agent with multiple prescriptions of controlled substances after conducting only cursory examinations and no diagnostic testing.
Bade’s clinic also allegedly provided refills for these prescriptions without any meaningful follow-up. The indictment also alleges that Bade and Caitano provided prescriptions to patients without personally examining or meeting with them.
The indictment further alleges that Caitano and Strong conspired to obtain large amounts of controlled substances through prescriptions signed by Bade, which they then further distributed to other individuals in exchange for profit.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Kenji M. Price for the District of Hawaii, and Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Callery of the DEA’s Honolulu Field Office.
“It is no secret that an opioid epidemic is sweeping through this country, leaving lost lives and shattered communities in its wake,” said Price. “The problem is multi-faceted and requires an all-hands-on-deck response. And as federal officials charged with protecting and serving the people of Hawaii, we plan to do everything in our power to prevent the opioid epidemic from taking hold here in the islands.”
If convicted of the charges, Bade, Caitano and Strong could face up to 20 years imprisonment. Marie Benevides and Theresa Saltus face up to four years imprisonment.