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Doctor Gets 19 Years For Distributing Opioid Painkillers

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Flickr Creative Commons
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The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

A Florida doctor has been sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison for distributing prescription painkillers.

Court records show that Dr. John Gayden Jr. was sentenced Monday. He was convicted in June of dispensing oxycodone outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical reason.

Investigators say the 64-year-old Gayden ran a cash-only pain management clinic in Indialantic from 2009 to 2011.

He charged $200-$400 per visit, where patients received prescriptions for high doses of oxycodone with little to no medical evaluation. Investigators say many of the people who received the prescriptions then abused the opioid painkillers themselves or sold the pills.