FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWYERS

DEA Investigation Defense: Responding to Drug Enforcement Agents

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to provide you with information that could save your career, your freedom, and everything you have worked to build. When DEA agents show up at your practice or home, you are facing a different kind of federal investigation than most people understand. The rules are different. The timeline is different. And the consequences can destroy you long before any criminal charge is ever filed.

Here is something that will change how you think about this situation entirely. When DEA agents knock on your door or walk into your office, your investigation is not beginning. It is ending. They have already spent somewhere between 24 and 32 months building a case against you through databases and records you never knew law enforcement could access without a warrant. The interview they want to conduct is not about gathering information. It is about locking in the final piece of evidence they need: your own words contradicting records they already have.

This is the fundamental reality that healthcare providers, pharmacists, and anyone holding a DEA registration must understand. The federal agents standing in front of you know more about your prescribing history, your controlled substance orders, and your patient records than you remember yourself. They have had years to analyze your data. You have seconds to respond.

The Investigation Started Years Before You Knew

Most people beleive that an investigation begins when law enforcement makes contact. That might be true for local police. That might be true for some state investigations. It is not true for DEA drug diversion cases. By the time DEA agents present there credentials at your front desk, theyve been watching you for years.

The typical DEA investigation runs 24 to 32 months from initial data gathering to the moment agents show up at your door. One defense attorney who tracks these cases calculated an average of 547 days – roughly 18 months – just from the raid to the indictment. That dosent include the year or more of surveillance that came before the raid ever happened.

Heres what that timeline means for you practicaly. While you were seeing patients, filling prescriptions, and living your normal life, DEA analysts were running your prescription data through algorithms designed to flag statistical outliers. They were comparing your patterns to regional averages. They were building a file on you that grew thicker every single month. And you had absolutly no idea any of this was happening.

The knock on your door isnt the start of an investigation. Its the moment they decided you needed to know about it – because there ready to move forward.

The Databases DEA Accesses Without a Warrant

This is were it gets really problematic for everyone who thinks there medical practice is private.

Unlike most law enforcement agencies, DEA can demand your records through whats called an administrative subpoena. This is not a search warrant. This is not approved by a judge. Under 21 U.S.C. Section 876, a Special Agent-in-Charge or a Diversion Program Manager can sign and issue an administrative subpoena without any judicial oversight whatsoever. They dont need probable cause. They dont need to convince anyone that your doing something wrong. They just need to beleive the records are “relevant or material” to there investigation.

And heres the part that should actualy concern you if your a healthcare provider. State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs – the PDMPs that were supposedly created to help doctors prevent patient overdoses – have become surveillance tools for federal law enforcement. DEA uses administrative subpoenas to access this data, and courts have consistantly ruled that you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in these records.

The Oregon case is instructive. Oregon created a PDMP with robust privacy protections, including a state law requirement that law enforcement obtain a court-ordered warrant before requesting prescription records. When DEA started issuing administrative subpoenas for this data, Oregon refused to comply. The district court actually ruled in Oregons favor in 2014, holding that patients have a reasonable expectation of privacy in prescription records.

But the Ninth Circuit reversed on appeal in 2017. Not because patients dont deserve privacy – but becuase federal authority under the Controlled Substances Act preempts state privacy laws. A Utah federal court went even further, ruling that “physicians and patients do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the highly regulated prescription drug industry.”

Think about what this means practicaly. Every prescription you have written for a controlled substance over the past several years. Every Schedule II medication you have dispensed from your pharmacy. Every refill pattern that might look unusual to an algorithm looking for statistical outliers. Every time you prescribed outside what the software consideres “normal” for your specialty. All of it is accessable to DEA without a warrant, without a judge, without any of the constitutional protections you assumed existed. They have been analizing your data while you were completly unaware that anyone was watching.

DEA Form 82: The Rights They Wont Read Aloud

A DEA drug diversion investigation will typicaly begin with the issuance of a Notice of Inspection – DEA Form 82. An investigator shows up at your practice and presents this form. What happens next determins whether you keep your career or lose everything.

Heres what most people dont know about Form 82. It explicitly lists six constitutional rights you have during this encounter. According to 21 CFR 1316.06, the form must inform you:

1. That you have the constitutional right not to have an administrative inspection made without an administrative inspection warrant
2. That you have the right to refuse to consent to such an inspection
3. That anything of an incriminating nature which may be found may be seized and used against you in a criminal prosecution
4. That you have been presented with a notice of inspection
5. That the consent is given by you voluntarily and without threats of any kind
6. That you may withdraw your consent at any time during the course of inspection

Read that list again slowly. You can refuse. You can ask them to leave. You can withdraw consent at any point during the inspection. These are your rights, printed directly on the form.

But heres the irony that destroys careers every single day. DEA agents rarely read these rights aloud. They hand you the form. They wait for you to sign. And most people – terrified, confused, wanting to appear cooperative – sign immediately without reading anything. The form designed to protect your constitutional rights becomes the document that waives all of them.

Todd Spodek has seen this pattern repeat itself constantly in cases at Spodek Law Group. A pharmacist or physician thinks refusing will make them look guilty. They think cooperation will demonstrate innocence. They think the agents will appreciate their helpfulness and leave them alone. None of this is true. What happens instead is they give DEA complete access to every record, every file, every conversation with every employee – and they cannot take it back once theyve signed.

Administrative Death Before Criminal Charges

This is the inversion that most people discover to late, usualy after the damage is already done. DEA can destroy your career completly before any criminal charge is ever filed against you.

Under 21 U.S.C. Section 824(a), DEA has authority to suspend or revoke your DEA registration for a list of reasons that goes far beyond criminal conviction. They can revoke if youve materially falsified an application. If youve had a state license suspended. If youve committed an act “inconsistent with the public interest.” If youve been excluded from Medicare participation.

None of these require a criminal conviction. The administrative process runs parallel to – but often faster than – criminal prosecution.

In July 2025, DEA announced results of Operation Profit Over Patients. The numbers are revealing. The operation resulted in approximately 51 arrests and 122 criminal charges. But it also resulted in 93 administrative cases seeking revocation of DEA registrations. Almost as many people faced career-ending administrative action as faced criminal prosecution.

The administrative track dosent require the same burden of proof as criminal prosecution. It dosent provide the same constitutional protections. And it moves faster. You can lose your ability to prescribe controlled substances – effectivly ending your medical career – while the criminal case is still being investigated. By the time your proven innocent in court (if you ever are), the damage is already permanant.

This is why the moment of first contact with DEA agents is so criticaly important. What you say during that initial encounter can be used in both the criminal prosecution AND the administrative proceeding. One set of statements creates exposure in two seperate legal arenas.

The 50-Year Cascade

The consequences dont stop at one license in one state.

If you receive any discipline on your pharmacist or physician license, it triggers a mandatory report to the National Practitioner Data Base. That report remains there for 50 years. Not five years. Not ten years. Fifty years.

And heres the cascade effect that most professionals dont anticipate until its happening to them. If you hold licenses in multiple states – which many healthcare providers do – each state will independently initiate investigation and possible disciplinary action against you in that jurisdiction. One attorney reported a client who held licenses in seven states. When action was taken in the primary state, all seven other states initiated there own proceedings.

The DEA registration is connected to basicly everything in your professional life. When DEA revokes or suspends your registration, state licensing boards recieve notification immediatly. Insurance companies recieve notification. Hospital privileges are affected and often terminated. Group practice agreements are jeopardized or cancelled outright. Malpractice insurance becomes nearly imposible to obtain. One administrative action triggers a chain reaction that spreads across every professional relationship you have ever built.

This is why the “just cooperate and it will go away” approach is so dangerous in DEA investigations. You are not just facing one proceeding with one potential outcome. You are facing a cascade that can spread across your entire professional existence.

What DEA Agents Can Legally Do To You

The asymmetry between what agents can do and what you cannot do is striking.

DEA diversion investigators can legally:

• Show up at your practice without warning during business hours
• Present Form 82 without reading your rights aloud
• Wait silently while you sign away your constitutional protections
• Access your prescription monitoring data without judicial oversight
• Interview your employees about your practices
• Request patient records under administrative authority
• Build a file on you for years without your knowledge
• Make representations about the seriousness of the investigation
• Suggest that cooperation will help your situation
• Refer findings to both criminal prosecutors and licensing boards simultaneously

Meanwhile, you cannot:

• Make any inaccurate statement, even accidentally or due to faulty memory
• Misremember dates, prescription amounts, or patient conversations from years ago
• Speculate about what might have happened when you dont remember clearly
• Say anything that contradicts records they already have
• Assume your medical records are private from law enforcement
• Trust that administrative cooperation will prevent criminal referral
• Believe that explaining yourself will make the investigation go away

The playing field is not level. Its designed to give them every advantage and you every opportunity to create additional exposure.

The asymetry extends beyond the legal rules. DEA agents are trained profesionals who conduct these interviews regulary. They know exactley what questions to ask and how to phrase them to elicit incriminating responses. Meanwhile, you are experiancing one of the most stressful moments of your professional life, trying to remember details from years ago while remaining calm.

The First Words That Save Your Career

So what do you actualy do when DEA agents show up at your practice or home?

First, understand that you are not required to sign Form 82. You have the constitutional right to refuse consent to an administrative inspection without a warrant. The form itself says so. Refusing to consent is not a crime. Refusing to consent is not obstruction. Refusing to consent is exercising your constitutional rights.

If you refuse, what happens? The DEA leaves. They apply for an administrative inspection warrant from a federal district court. Courts routinly grant these warrants because they dont require probable cause – only a description of the nature and extent of the proposed inspection. The DEA returns with the warrant. The inspection proceeds.

So why refuse if theyre just going to get a warrant anyway?

This is the question most people ask, and the answer reveals something fundamentaly important about how federal investigations actualy work in practice.

Because refusing buys you time. Time to contact an attorney. Time to organize your records. Time to understand what youre facing before youre in the middle of it. The DEA conducts these inspections without warning specificly because they dont want you to have time to prepare.

Heres exactly what to say when DEA agents present Form 82:

“I decline to consent to this inspection without first consulting with my attorney.”

Thats it. You dont need to explain. You dont need to apologize. You dont need to schedule a follow-up or promise to cooperate later. You are exercising a constitutional right that is printed directly on the form they just handed you.

If they push back – and they probly will – repeat yourself calmly. “I decline to consent without first consulting with my attorney.”

At Spodek Law Group, we have intervened in cases where clients exercised this right and were able to prepare meaningful responses before the inspection resumed. The few hours or days you buy by declining immediate consent can be the difference between preserving your career and losing everything.

When They Already Have Your Records

Maybe your reading this to late. Maybe you already signed Form 82. Maybe the inspection happened and now your worried about what they found and how they will use it.

Do not contact DEA to explain, clarify, or correct anything.

This is the instinct that makes things worse almost every time. You realize something in your records might look bad. You want to explain the context. You want to clarify why that prescription pattern existed. You want to get ahead of the problem.

Every word you say creates additional documented statements that can be analyzed for inconsistencies. Every explanation you offer can be compared to records they already have. Every clarification becomes potential evidence of consciousness of guilt if it differs from what they previously found.

Contact a federal criminal defense attorney immediately instead. At Spodek Law Group, weve helped clients who cooperated before they understood the risks. Its not the ideal situation – but its not hopeless either.

The attorney can potentially:

• Determine what was actually documented during the inspection
• Identify potential exposure from statements already made
• Intervene with prosecutors before charging decisions are finalized
• Prepare for administrative proceedings that may run parallel to criminal investigation
• Protect you from additional contact that could worsen the situation
• Navigate the intersection between criminal prosecution and licensing consequences

The worst thing you can do is sit there worrying while doing nothing. DEA investigations move forward whether your paying attention or not. The administrative process continues whether you have counsel or not. The cascade of consequences spreads whether you understand it or not.

Every day that passes without legal representation is a day where the investigation advances while you remain completley in the dark about the strategys being developed against you. The prosecutors and agents are not waiting for you to decide what to do. They are activley building a case that could end with federal prison time and permanant destruction of everything you spent decades building.

DEA agents showing up at your practice or home is one of the most career-threatening moments in any healthcare providers life. Everything feels urgent. You want to explain yourself. You want to demonstrate that you are a good doctor, a careful pharmacist, a professional who follows the rules.

But the system is not designed to hear your explanations and send you on your way. The system is designed to use your natural instincts against you. Your desire to cooperate, your confidence in your own records, your assumption that transparency will be rewarded – these are the exact vulnerabilities that create both criminal and administrative exposure.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196 today. The conversation you have with us is privileged and protected. Unlike your conversation with DEA agents, nothing you tell your lawyer can be used against you. That is the only safe place to explain your situation without creating additional risk.

Sources:

• 21 U.S.C. Section 876 – Administrative Subpoena Authority
• 21 CFR 1316.06 – Consent to Inspection Requirements
• DOJ Operation Profit Over Patients Announcement
• ACLU Challenge to DEA Prescription Record Access
• 21 U.S.C. Section 824 – DEA Registration Revocation Authority