TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution today announced the arrest of a man wanted in connection to drug diversion schemes after five years on the run. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Gil Hevia, 47, Monday afternoon in Orlando.
Hevia is allegedly involved in a drug diversion enterprise operating in Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas, involving the buying and selling of more than $40 million in black market pharmaceuticals. These drugs included anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and HIV medications.
Additionally, Hevia is allegedly involved in a separate but similar multistate drug diversion ring that orchestrated the purchase of millions of dollars of medications on the black market. This criminal enterprise operated from Florida to Tennessee, Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. The defendant allegedly purchased the black market drugs primarily from Medicaid recipients in Florida and New Jersey, and then resold the drugs to pharmacies in the Northeastern United States.
Attorney General Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, with the assistance of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, investigated both cases.
Between the two cases, Hevia faces several felony charges related to trafficking in contraband prescription drugs, Medicaid fraud, money laundering and organized scheme to defraud. If convicted of all charges, Hevia faces up to 375 years in prison. Attorney General Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute these cases.