Former owner of medical clinic sentenced for selling illegal opioids

A former Uptown medical center owner was sentenced to 75 months in prison for selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of opioids to people who didn't need them.

Mohammed Shariff, 68, of Lincolnwood was sentenced in Chicago federal court on charges he conspired to dispense controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Shariff owned Midtown Medical Center, 4527 North Sheridan Road, and worked with Dr. Theodore Galvani to sell opioids and other prescription pills to patients "whom they knew lacked a medical reason for taking the drugs," prosecutors said.

At the direction of Shariff, Galvani, gave opioids to patients without conducting a physical exam or any medical tests, prosecutors said. Galvani previously pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges and is awaiting sentencing.

A "crew leader" organized groups of people to get those prescription from Galvani, prosecutors said. Lines often stretched beyond the clinic's door.

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