9 Investigates: Doctor or drug dealer?

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — State agents raided Dr. Ibem Borges’ pain management clinics after two of his patients died from overdoses. It appeared to be another chapter closed in Florida’s crackdown on prescription painkiller abuse.

But that was more than a year ago, and 9 Investigates found Borges still has not been charged or arrested in connection with those high-visibility raids.

Channel 9's Tim Barber asked Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents what happened to the case and whether Borges is still practicing.

He followed up on Channel 9 reporting when state agents confiscated computers and documents from one of Borges’ pain management facilities.

Raw: FDLE agent discusses pain clinic raid

Authorities ended up raiding both of the clinics he operated, one on East Vine Street in Kissimmee and the other on West Oak Ridge Road in Orlando, but that was early November 2013. Since those raids made local news, Borges has not been charged or arrested.

9 Investigates discovered the Florida Department of Health banned Borges from prescribing powerful painkillers, but it did not ban him from practicing.

“Hi, is Dr. Borges here?” Barber asked an employee working at the site of one of the old locations

“No, sir. He's not here,” the man answered.

The people who used to share the building with Borges said he no longer works next door.

The law enforcement investigation started after two of his patients overdosed. As part of the investigation, an undercover agent visited Borges six times, pretending to have back problems.

The exams allegedly lasted between two minutes and just 35 seconds. Yet each time, the agent explained that he walked away with a prescription for 120 to 180 oxycodone pills.

“We definitely, we don't even come near that drug," said Dr. Claire-Marie Cyprien with Southwest Anesthesia & Pain Management.

She specializes in pain management. She would not talk about the Borges case, but she did tell 9 Investigates what she does in her office.

"In our clinic, if we feel that you are just a user, you get a 30-day notice of emergency care only and you are out my door,” Cyprien told Barber.

Agent Jack Massey said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confiscated so many records during the Borges raids that medical experts needed months to examine them.

“We want to make sure once we put our hands on somebody then that next day or whenever, we are ready to go to trial,” Massey told Barber. “And that is what we are doing in this case.”

Florida's prescription drug crack down started around 2010. During the next two years, prescription drug deaths decreased by more than 23 percent.

Massey believes the prescription drug database and raids like the one on Borges’ clinics helped even further.

“I mean I do, I really do,” Massey said. “I think we are going to get our guy.”

The state website documenting Florida’s corporations shows that the business called “Dr. Borges Medicine and More” is now “inactive.”

9 Investigates called and emailed Borges, but so far he has not replied.

WFTV