‘Operation Blue Pill’ figure gets 6-year prison sentence
WEST PALM BEACH — A 41-year-old Broward County man arrested in a 2011 takedown of a $13 million pill mill network in Palm Beach and Broward counties was sentenced Monday to six years in prison.
The sentence for Pasquale Gervasio in Palm Beach County Circuit Court matches the six-year sentence he received this year on federal conspiracy to commit money-laundering charges tied to his efforts to help open six illegal pain clinics in both counties as well as a pharmacy.
As part of a plea agreement between Assistant State Attorney Christopher Hudock and defense attorney Jack Goldberger, Circuit Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo ordered the state sentence for Gervasio to run with the federal sentence,
and Gervasio will be allowed to serve the entire sentence in federal prison.
Gervasio, of Parkland, was one of five people arrested in 2011 after a yearlong investigation authorities dubbed “Operation Blue Pill.”
According to authorities, between March 2010 and June 2011, Gervasio and his co-conspirators operated six pain clinics that distributed oxycodone pills to people who did not have a legitimate medical need. More than 2 million 30 milligram pills were distributed before the clinics were shut down.
At the time of the arrests, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with police departments in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Greenacres, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, as well as the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.
Gervasio admitted his involvement and in February testified against Richard McMillian, the alleged founder of the clinics, as part of a deal he made with prosecutors. The deal capped Gervasio’s potential prison sentence at 10 years. He ultimately received a six-year federal sentence.
McMillian, meanwhile, was sentenced to 35 years in prison after a jury convicted him of racketeering and drug trafficking charges. Gervasio on Monday pleaded guilty to similar charges.
As part of the agreement, Caracuzzo also sentenced Gervasio to five years in prison for grand theft and other charges connected to a 2013 case where Gervasio and another man rolled back the odometer of a 2002 Acura TL and sold it for a higher price.
Caracuzzo said in court Monday that government officials seized all the money recovered from the operation and Gervasio was fined $525,000.