MONROE —A physician will be arraigned Thursday afternoon in federal court in Detroit on charges stemming from an undercover investigation of an alleged prescription drug mill being operated out of a Monroe Township facility.

Dr. Oscar Linares, 53, is accused of illegally prescribing the painkiller Oxycotin and other drugs and fraudulently billing Medicare for more than $5.7 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said.  He was arrested Wednesday after federal authorities raided his medical office on Laplaisance Road in Monroe Township.

He is charged with unlawfully distributing prescription drugs and health care fraud. If convicted, he could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison and fined $1 million.

An arraignment for Dr. Linares, who operates the Monroe Pain Center on Laplaisance Road in Monroe Township, is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

According to the complaint unsealed Wednesday in the court, Dr. Linares prescribed more than two million doses of painkillers from last June to October and submitted patients without regard to their symptoms or medical conditions. 

In addition to the medical office, authorities executed search warrants for bank accounts that contain funds that are believed to have been obtained in the illegal sale of prescription drugs.

First Published March 24, 2011, 3:37 p.m.