(Amy Hess, FBI Executive Assistant director, speaks during an Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force press conference on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in Cincinnati. The Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force announced that they have charged 60 individuals, including 53 medical professionals, with crimes related to illegal distribution of opioids and other dangerous narcotics.)
The Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force announced that they have charged 60 individuals, including 53 medical professionals, with crimes related to illegal distribution of opioids and other dangerous narcotics. The list of indicted medical professionals includes podiatrists, orthopedic specialists, dentists, general practitioners and nurse practitioners. Some of the doctors are accused of trading drugs for sex, giving prescriptions to Facebook friends without proper medical exams and unnecessarily pulling teeth to justify writing pain pill prescriptions.
How the strike force worked the investigation
The strike force, which was created to attack the opioid epidemic late in 2018, worked a two-part investigation.
First: They used data analytics including prescription data monitoring programs from the states and Medicaid billing to identify potential offenders.
Then: They followed up with undercover operations and traditional, boots-on-the-ground law enforcement to zero in on suspects.
"We wanted to move quickly," Benczkowski said. The investigation by 300 agents went from January to Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors said the impact of illegal prescriptions is especially devastating to rural communities, where patients often have limited options when seeking medical help. If the doctor those patients see is peddling illegal prescriptions, prosecutors said, the damage to small towns can be dramatic.
The arrests Wednesday removed many doctors who "are simply white-coated drug dealers," said J. Douglas Overbey, U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Prosecutors said a physician in Dayton, Ohio, collected $5,000 a month in rent from a pharmacy located in his office, which provided pills after he signed prescriptions. They said another doctor in Alabama charged patients a "concierge fee" of between $50 and $600 per visit. The information came from Cincinnati Enquirer.
Documents and Resources from the April 17, 2019 Appalachian
Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force press conference
Northern District of Alabama
- U.S. v Celia Lloyd-Turney
- U.S. v Christopher Wray
- U.S. v John Cimino, et al
- U.S. v Elizabeth Korcz, et al
- U.S. v Marshall Plotka
- U.S. v Tanya Mentzer
Western District of Kentucky
Eastern District of Louisiana
Southern District of Ohio
Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Eastern District of Tennessee
- U.S. v Charles Brooks Jr.
- U.S. v Harrison Yang
- U.S. v Henry Babenco, et al
- U.S. v Steven Mynatt, et al
- U.S. v Heather Marks
- U.S. v Bowdoin Smith
- U.S. v Brian Richey, et al
- U.S. v Darrel Rinehart
- U.S. v John Polston
- U.S. v Lawrence Valdez
- U.S. v Timothy Abbott
- U.S. v Thomas Ballard III
- U.S. v Britney Petway, et al
- U.S. v Jay Shires, et al
- U.S. v Jeffrey Young, et al
- U.S. v Michelle Bonifield, et al
- U.S. v James Litton
- U.S. v Kathryn Russell
- U.S. v Michael Hellman
- U.S. v Richard Farmer
Southern District of West Virginia
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