Pill mill doctor who escaped to Haiti via Mexico finally gets her prison sentence

Seven months after fleeing the United States for her native Haiti to avoid being sentenced on drug charges, North Miami Beach doctor Jeanne Germeil learned how long she’ll be a resident of the U.S. prison system.

Germeil, 55, got 210 months, or 17 1/2 years, from U.S. District Judge Ursula M. Ungaro for illegally dispensing opioids and contempt of court pending sentencing.

Trial evidence that led to Germeil’s January conviction on 11 counts of the former crime said she prescribed the opioids at a rate of 687.95 prescriptions per month over 20 months spanning 2016 and 2017. She worked out of Germeil Medical, 951 NE 167th St., in North Miami Beach.

Ungaro gave her 188 months (15 years, eight months) for that. The remaining 22 months were for what happened between conviction and sentencing.

After her indictment in September 2018, Germeil posted $250,000 bond for limited freedom — no passport, special permission needed to leave the federal court’s Southern and Middle Districts in Florida and in her Naples home from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

According to a criminal complaint against Germeil’s husband, Jean-Rene Foureau, none of that prevented the couple from withdrawing cash from their bank accounts, selling her car, getting her a Florida driver’s license and a Haitian passport in a different name.

She was scheduled to be sentenced April 19. She cut off her electronic monitoring bracelet on March 30. Collier County sheriff’s deputies doing a welfare check the next day found a home with an open front door and no personal items, aside from Germeil’s medical diplomas.