Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett is the New Orleans physician whose pain management clinic on Chef Menteur Highway became one of the largest pill mills in the United States in the early 2000s. She lost her Louisiana medical license in 2002, had her DEA registration revoked in 2003, was indicted in 2007 on 37 federal drug counts, and in 2009 pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count. She was sentenced to three months of probation and no prison time, an outcome shaped almost entirely by catastrophic injuries she suffered in a 2006 car accident. Her story reached a wider audience through the 2020 Netflix documentary series The Pharmacist.
Before opening the clinic, Cleggett had trained at Morehouse School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She worked as a family practitioner and internist, contracted with Gulf South Medical Consultants on soft tissue exams for personal injury clients, and in spring 2000 received a certificate from the American Academy of Pain Medicine.1The Peace Studio. Father Sought Justice for Son, Became Anti-Opioid Crusader
How the Clinic Operated
The clinic was a 6,000-square-foot facility in New Orleans East. It kept extraordinary hours, at times running around the clock, and patients regularly arrived at 3 a.m. to wait in a packed parking lot for OxyContin prescriptions.1The Peace Studio. Father Sought Justice for Son, Became Anti-Opioid Crusader Cash only. A visit ran about $400, with a $150 “stat fee” to jump the line.
Cleggett’s prescribing followed a recognizable pattern. She regularly wrote for 40-milligram or stronger OxyContin combined with Xanax and the muscle relaxant Soma, a combination known in drug circles as the “holy trinity.”2Time. The Pharmacist Netflix Many patients were young, showed no signs of chronic pain, and traveled in from Mississippi and Florida.3NOLA.com. Former New Orleans Doctor Pleads Guilty in Drug Case The DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad calculated that between 2000 and 2001 alone, Cleggett had prescribed roughly 2,030 bottles of OxyContin across ten pharmacies, generating at least $500,000 in cash.1The Peace Studio. Father Sought Justice for Son, Became Anti-Opioid Crusader
How She Was Caught
The person who did more than anyone to force action against Cleggett was not a federal agent but a pharmacist. Dan Schneider ran a pharmacy in St. Bernard Parish and, starting in 2001, began noticing a surge of young adults filling high-dose OxyContin prescriptions, most of them signed by Cleggett. He mounted an amateur investigation that was unusually thorough: copies of suspicious prescriptions, a pharmacy “dead list” cross-referenced against obituaries, secretly recorded conversations with patients, and his own surveillance of the clinic.4Rho Chi Post. Daniel Schneider’s Crusade Against OxyContin
His most damaging finding involved a child. Schneider confirmed by phone that Cleggett had prescribed a combination of Soma, Valium, Roxicodone, and OxyContin to a young patient, then verified with the hospital that the same patient had been discharged on nothing stronger than Tylenol.4Rho Chi Post. Daniel Schneider’s Crusade Against OxyContin He took his material to the FBI, the DEA, and the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, and kept calling. DEA diversion investigator Patricia Childress said he called constantly, sometimes for an hour at a stretch. Her colleague Iris Myers later credited Schneider’s “relentless nature” and research as instrumental in building the case.5Oxygen. Dan Schneider of The Pharmacist on How His Reputation Changed
Losing Her Medical and DEA Licenses
The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners issued a summary suspension of Cleggett’s medical license on February 14, 2002, finding that she had “inappropriately prescribed large amounts of controlled drugs to individuals for no legitimate medical purpose.”6Federal Register. Jacqueline Cleggett-Lucas, M.D.; JCL Enterprises, LLC; Revocation of Registration A state court briefly stayed the suspension but reinstated it on February 22. Cleggett did not appear at her evidentiary hearing; she was in a psychiatric ward at the time.7Newsweek. Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett Now
Without a valid state license, she could not lawfully handle controlled substances, which stripped the basis for her DEA registration. The DEA issued an Order to Show Cause on March 21, 2002, and after an administrative proceeding, the Deputy Administrator revoked the registrations of Cleggett and her practice entity, JCL Enterprises, LLC. The revocation was published at 68 FR 24758 and took effect June 9, 2003.6Federal Register. Jacqueline Cleggett-Lucas, M.D.; JCL Enterprises, LLC; Revocation of Registration Searches of her home and clinic turned up large quantities of signed but undated prescriptions.1The Peace Studio. Father Sought Justice for Son, Became Anti-Opioid Crusader
The Federal Case and Guilty Plea
On February 2, 2007, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana returned a 37-count indictment against Cleggett covering the illegal distribution of OxyContin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, Vicodin, and methadone between June 2000 and February 2002.8CourtListener. United States v. Cleggett, 2:07-cr-000289Oxygen. Where Is Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett From The Pharmacist Now The case reached beyond her clinic: seventeen other people in Mississippi were arrested for redistributing pills that had originated with her prescriptions.3NOLA.com. Former New Orleans Doctor Pleads Guilty in Drug Case
On July 23, 2009, Cleggett pleaded guilty to Count 1: conspiracy to dispense and distribute controlled substances, specifically oxycodone, alprazolam, and hydrocodone. The remaining 36 counts were dismissed.8CourtListener. United States v. Cleggett, 2:07-cr-000283NOLA.com. Former New Orleans Doctor Pleads Guilty in Drug Case The count carried a statutory maximum of 20 years and a $1 million fine.
Why She Got Probation Instead of Prison
At sentencing on November 4, 2009, Cleggett received three months of probation and no prison time. The gap between what she faced and what she got had a specific cause. In 2006, between her indictment and her plea, Cleggett was in a serious car accident that left her with brain damage and debilitating injuries.7Newsweek. Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett Now A medical evaluator concluded there was “almost no chance” she could ever practice medicine or live independently again, and the court cited her “extraordinary physical impairment” as the ground for the sentence.9Oxygen. Where Is Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett From The Pharmacist Now
Who Was Harmed
Cleggett’s prescribing has been connected to multiple deaths and serious downstream harm. Reporting linked her prescriptions to the death of a nursing student, a fatal car crash caused by a patient named Dorothy Bivona, and the overdose death of seventeen-year-old Derrick Breaux. Derrick’s father, Paul Breaux, was later booked on a second-degree murder charge and died by suicide in jail. James Price, who resold pills prescribed by Cleggett, was arrested on charges involving controlled substances with a street value exceeding $100,000.1The Peace Studio. Father Sought Justice for Son, Became Anti-Opioid Crusader Her prosecution has been described as one of the first successful federal cases against a pill-mill doctor in the United States.
Where She Is Now
Cleggett lives in an apartment in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is not professionally active. Her revoked medical license, her federal conviction, and the lasting effects of the 2006 accident — brain damage and partial paralysis — foreclosed any return to medicine.9Oxygen. Where Is Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett From The Pharmacist Now She sat for an interview in The Pharmacist, the four-part Netflix series released in February 2020, which centered on Dan Schneider’s investigation and treated Cleggett as its central figure. The DEA investigators Patricia Childress and Iris Myers also appeared.5Oxygen. Dan Schneider of The Pharmacist on How His Reputation Changed