Sunday afternoon at 12:46pm Conroe Police were dispatched to an attempt to locate a silver passenger car on SH 105 which was driving erratically. Moments later a call came in for a major crash in front of the Conroe Fire Station. When Conroe Police interviewed Ronald Cooper, the driver of the vehicle that caused the crash, at the scene he stated he had been in church in Conroe and was heading home. He said he struck the green car causing it to flip. Cooper admitted to taking prescription drugs. Cooper told investigators that had taken prescription drugs before to bed and again at 630am that Sunday morning. During the interview Cooper kept nodding off.
As Crime Scene investigators inventoried Ronald Coopers they found four prescription bottles. They included one for 90 –20mg Oxycodene prescribed by Dr. Rezik Saqer, and a bottle of 60-10mg Valium prescribed by the same doctor.
Conroe Police then learned that beginning in 2014, the Houston DEA Tactical Diversion Squad had been investigating Dr. Saquer and his drug trafficking organization. who are currently operating in Montgomery County, Texas. Based on the Texas Medical Board website and Texas Secretary of State Records, Dr. SAQER is the medical director and supervising physician of TEXAS PAlN SOLUTIONS and STEEPLECAHSE PHARMACY, located in Harris County, Texas as well as lNTEGRA MEDICAL CLINIC and lNTEGRA PHARMACY located at 3074 College Park Drive.
Officials learned that Dr. Rezik Saqer employs professionals in the medical and pharmacy industries to authorize prescriptions for controlled substances and issue the pharmaceuticals. The DEA studied various law enforcement data bases and determined that the organization uses trusted associates and family members to distribute the large
quantities of pills and collect the monies owed for the drugs.
During the investigation a family member of another patient was interviewed. They learned the patient who was being prescribed controlled substances by Dr. SAQER and learned during the interview that Dr. Saqer employs Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG’s), who are not licensed to practice medicine in Texas, to facilitate the distribution of controlled substances such as oxycodone and hydrocodone to criminal distribution rings and to people suffering from addiction throughout Texas. These FMG’s will examine and treat an increased volume of patients and issue prescriptions without a medical purpose and without any oversight by a physician. Cooper filled a prescription written by Obinna Uzodinma on May 2, 2015, Ghada Sager on June 2, 2015, and George Atallah on January 11, 2015.
A Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) analysis of prescriptions issued in the name of Dr. Saqer revealed that from 10/02/2013-10/02/2014, Saqer prescribed 1,600,142 dosage units of controlled substances, specifically Oxycodone and Hydrocodone (Schedule II). On September 14, 2015, a more recent analysis of prescriptions issued in the name of Saqer revealed that from 01/08/2014 – 09/14/2015, SAQER prescribed 907,238.50 dosage unites of controlled substances, specially Oxycodone, Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, and Morphine. Saqer charges approximately $300.00 to $350.00 for an initial visit and approximately $100.00 to $150.00 for a follow-up visit. The cash proceeds from the time frame listed above at these clinics and pharmacies are estimated at $5, 796,662.50.
Late 2014, DEA Houston TDS received information from the Montgomery County Forensic Services Department regarding a recent deceased patient that was under the care of Dr. Rezik Saqer. It was stated that multiple drugs in the decedent’s blood were prescribed by Saqer and were a contributing factor in the death of the patient. During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that approximately seven (7) Montgomery County, Texas residents that were under the care of Dr. George ATALLAH, Dr. Rezik Sager, and Dr. Obinna Uzodinma have potentially overdosed. In at least one of those deaths, a FMG who Dr. Rezik Saqer employed to work at Integra Medical Clinic had recently treated and administered Morphine to the deceased patient.
It was also found that between January 1, 2013 and September 21, 2015 Ronald Cooper had been given multiple prescriptions. Most which were Valium and Oxycodone were filled by either Integra Pharmacy which is located in the same building as the clinic, or CVS.
The infonnation obtained from the Prescription Access and Texas Database showed that on August 11, 2015 Cooper was prescribed 325 MG Hydrocodone, a prescription opioid, by Dr. Vidyadhar Hede. Prior to this date, the database shows the Cooper had been under the care of Dr. Rezik Saqer at Integra Medical Clinic, having received numerous prescriptions for Oxycodone an even stronger prescription opioid, and valium, a prescription benzodiazepine from January 11, 2015 until as recently as August 20, 2015. In fact, Dr. Rezik Saqer prescribed Oxycodone and Valium to Cooper eight days after being prescribed Hydrocodone by Dr. Vidyadhar Hede.
Saqer was arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Tuesday night.
During the execution of the search warrant officials found In an organizer located on
one of the desks eleven (11) documents titled “Fax Cover Sheet” with the heading “Texas Pain Solutions.” In the “from” line of the cover sheet, the forms indicate they are from Dr. Rezik Saqer’s Office. The fax cover sheet contains a copy of a blank prescription with Dr. Rezik Saqer’s signature. The prescription form appearing on the “Fax Cover Sheet” was blank. Clinics frequently sign prescription forms for their staff to fill out and either provide to the patient or fax to pharmacies. Additionally, the pharmacist on scene that was interviewed stated that there were no doctors on the premises on Thursdays, but that customers filled prescriptions from Dr. Rezik Saqer’s office on those days.
REZIK A. SAQER
8319 CHESIRE VALE
HOUSTON, TX. 77024
Doctor Saqer is a Pain Management Doctor who has offices at Texas Pain Solutions located at 11037 FM 1960 West Suite B1. He also has offices listed as Integra Medical Clinic at 3074 College Park Drive in Conroe.
According to his bio on his website:
Dr. Rezik Saqer, an interventional pain management physician, completed his residency training in Anesthesia and Pain Management at the Cleveland Clinic Educational Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio in 1996. He is a Diplomat in the American Academy of Pain Management and has been providing anesthesia and pain management services in the greater-Houston community since 1997, servicing such areas as Clear Lake, Southwest Houston, Cy-Fair and The Woodlands. During the last 15 years, he has served as the chairperson for the departments of anesthesia and Pain Management at the Texas Institute for Research and Rehabilitation (TIRR), North Houston Medical Center, North side Hospital and Triumph Hospital. Dr. Rezik Saqer and the team at Texas Pain Solutions believe in an integrated treatment plan for patients suffering from acute and chronic pain. Most plans include the use of multiple modalities such as medications, physical therapy, psychotherapy and Invasive Pain Treatment. Dr. Saqer leads the field in innovative and aggressive pain management solutions. He specializes in administering all types of nerve blocks and the implant and maintenance of all implantable devices such as morphine pumps and dorsal column stimulators for patients suffering from chronic pain. He works closely with primary care physicians to manage the overall health and co-existing conditions (i.e. diabetes, hypertension, depression) of his patients. He has strong interest in managing headaches, migraines and complex regional pain syndrome, also known as RSD.
He bonded out of the Montgomery County Jail on charges of three counts of diversion of controlled substances, four counts of fraud possession of controlled substance/prescription schedule II/III, three counts of possession of controlled substance penalty group 1 greater or equal to 4 grams but less than 200 grams.
His total bond was set at $45,500.
Additional details as available
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