Dan Schneider's attic
A photo of Jacqueline Cleggett taken during a deposition on January 10, 2006. Court document photographed on Thursday, October 5, 2017. Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Posted on 10/13/2017 3:24:43 PM PDT by BBell
How a small town pharmacist caught his son's killer - and then took down the most notorious pill mill doctor in New Orleans history
Among the Christmas ornaments, Mardi Gras costumes and crawfish boiling equipment in Dan Schneider's attic, a stack of cardboard boxes stands out. They bear handwritten labels scrawled with a black Sharpie: "Danny Murder Investigation," "Tunnel of Hope," "Dr. Cleggett WWEP."
Schneider seldom opens them anymore. His wife wishes he would throw them away. But he insists on keeping them around.
"I ain't never getting rid of this stuff," he says.
Those dozen boxes archive a pivotal period in Schneider's life, when a series of events transformed him from a laid-back suburban pharmacist into a vigilante private eye.
Those boxes also contain a story never before told about New Orleans in the early grips of what has become the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history. They catalog the local rise of opioid addiction and the police, pushers and medical professionals who profited from it. They provide a glimpse into the frustrated efforts of federal and local investigators to thwart a crisis that few saw coming -- and that was enabled by society's desire for a miracle cure for pain.
But most of all, the boxes hold the story of one man who, despite the odds against him, set out to right a wrong in his community and rewrite a dark chapter in his family's life.
It all started around 2 a.m. on April 14, 1999. Schneider and his wife, Annie, woke to the sound of a knock at the door. Two young sheriff's deputies were standing in the doorway. They asked to come inside.
Seated in the kitchen, the two men explained that the Schneiders' 22-year-old son, Danny Jr., had been shot in the head while sitting in his
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
You could make a movie out of this story but it won't be done. The ethnicity of the good and the bad guy do not fit todays P.C. narrative.
Dan Schneider's attic
A photo of Jacqueline Cleggett taken during a deposition on January 10, 2006. Court document photographed on Thursday, October 5, 2017. Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
So true
Well worth the time to read it.
“She was certainly not the first doctor to over-prescribe opioids,” says Craig Taffaro, a licensed counselor who served as St. Bernard Parish president from 2008 to 2012. “But she opened a door that otherwise had not been opened. What she unleashed can still be felt in St. Bernard.”
With Cleggett gone, a dozen new pain clinics popped up across New Orleans, seeking to capture her patient base. The epidemic worsened. In late 2004, the parish coroner lamented the unabated overdose death toll, attributing most of them to “recreational use of prescription pills.”
The problems persist today. In the last few years, St. Bernard has posted the second-highest drug overdose rate in Louisiana, higher than any of its neighboring parishes, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's county health rankings.
Selected cuts from the article.
Why would it take 5 years AFTER the clinic was closed by the LA Board of Medical Examiners to bring a case against Dr. Cleggett?
How in the world could almost two dozen licensed and sworn police officers provide “security” to this pill mill - and pretend to not notice what was going on?
And today the opioid epidemic continues to kill its partakers and anyone they meet on the road.
Very good article. I seldom read a long one end to end but rather skim for the facts and conclusion. I read this one. It was worth it. A movie would be good but Clegget would have to be written and cast as white and Schneider would have to be cast as black or Latino.
$300 a shift would cause them to not see anything untoward. And it is New Orleans in Louisiana. That’s how it is down there. Do you remember reading how the local police acted during Katrina? They are every bit as Third World as is Ninth ward or Mali.
Good article, great story.
Thanks for posting!
Same here. I usually scan the articles like this but this article kept me riveted. Schneider kept all his records which really helps in writing an article like this.
Good read. They could make a movie, and most likely would change the ethnicity of the good guy and bad guy.
bkmk
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.