Crushed Pill Mill gets 22 People Charged

Almost two dozen people were charged in federal indictments for illegally making millions of dollars by distributing prescription drugs to people in Kentucky.

According to WKYT News, five indictments were unsealed that charged 22 defendants –including five pain clinic owners and six doctors, with offenses connected to prescription drugs, money laundering and health care fraud.

In the first of the five indictments, it alleges that a Texas doctor, Linda J. Roos, conspired to illegally distribute pills to residents of Pike County.

Dr. Roos allegedly prescribed more than 125,000 Oxycodone pills from September 2006 until July 2011. She allegedly faxed many of her prescriptions to a pharmacy in Pikeville so the patients who visited her could pick up the pills on their way home from Texas. To limit traveling, Roos often allowed patients to obtain a prescription by simply faxing in a form.

Two patients of Dr. Roos, Dennis and Helen Varney, were also charged with conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs. Upon searching the Varney residence, authorities found hundreds of Oxycodone pills. Dennis, 62, was also charged with multiple counts of distributing the Oxycodone.

In the second indictment, 58-year-old Beverly Lockhart, the manager of the Marrowbone Hometown Pharmacy, is accused of conspiring with Pikeville doctor Thad Manning to illegally sell prescription drug samples. Lockhart is also charged with health care fraud conspiracy, which is due to allegations that she defrauded Medicare by submitting reimbursement claims for medicine that the pharmacy never gave to customers.

According to WYMT TV, the indictment states that Lockhart and Manning knowingly sold, purchased, or traded the drug samples and then lied about it to authorities.

The third indictment alleges that the co-owners of Caremore pain clinic, 39-year-old Tammy Cantrell and 50-year-old Shelby Lackey, schemed with a doctor to distribute Hydrocodone to Johnson County residents. According to the US Attorney, the two made nearly $2 million.

The fourth indictment alleges that the co-owners of Auto Accident and Health Care in Auxier, Kentucky, plotted with two doctors. The US Attorney says Johnson County residents were again bombarded with pills after 34-year-old Ray Douglas Stapleton, and his wife, 33-year-old Tina Marie Stapleton, schemed to unlawfully dispense Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Xanax. The indictment also notes that the couple made about $1.5 million from July of 2010 through June of 2012.

According to yet another indictment, Jody Robinson, 37, a pain clinic owner in Florida, conspired with a doctor to launder money and illegally dispense prescription drugs to patients from Boyd, Greenup, and Lawrence Counties. The clinic allegedly made approximately $2 million in just over a year.

US Attorney Kerry Harvey said, “We have communities that are literally drowning in a sea of pills, and these indictments come from a concerted, relentless effort to fight back against the scourge of prescription drug abuse.”

Cantrell and Lackey both pleaded not guilty on August 17^th in federal court.

Manning and Lockhart are still waiting for their arraignment.

The investigation was carried out by each of the following: FBI, Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, FDA, Kentucky Board of Pharmacy, DEA, and Kentucky Office of Inspector General, Drug Enforcement Branch.