UPDATE 2/3/12
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A Mingo County pharmacist has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire or obtain controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge.
James P. Wooley, 76, of Louisa, Kentucky was the owner and operator of Stronsnider Drug Store, Inc. which conducted its business operations as SAV-RITE Pharmacy in two locations near Kermit in Mingo County, W.Va.
Wooley entered the plea Thursday in U.S.District Court in Charleston. He was inducted on the charges last month.
Federal prosecutors say that from June 2006 through September 2006, Wooley and other licensed pharmacists under his direction, illegally dispensed controlled substances to patients from Justice Medical Clinic located in Kermit.
Wooley admitted that he knew the prescriptions were not valid because there was no written approval from a doctor.
In addition, at the time these controlled substances were distributed by Wooley and his employees, Justice Medical Clinic was closed for failing to obtain a Certificate of Need from the West Virginia State Health Care Authority.
Wooley also admitted that during the scheme, he issued numerous illegal prescriptions using a physician’s Drug Enforcement Administration number without the physician’s consent.
Wooley faces up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on May 3.
Reports say that federal prosecutors have asked the court to schedule a plea hearing for James P. Wooley.
Wooley was charged earlier this month with conspiracy to illegally acquire or obtain controlled substances. His attorney, Robert B. Allen, declined comment Monday.
The charge stems from an investigation of the Justice Medical Complex in Kermit. Federal prosecutors say the clinic's owner and employees used another person's Medicare provider number to distribute hydrocodone and other controlled substances. Patients were directed to Wooley's pharmacies in Kermit and Stone Coal.
The clinic's owner and two doctors were sentenced in 2010 for their roles in the scheme.
U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. on Tuesday also ordered 30-year-old Cameron Justice to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution.
Copenhaver says the Crum resident probably should have never tried to run the Justice Medical Clinic. Justice is a heavy-equipment operator with a high school education.
Copenhaver says the result of Justice's ownership was the establishment of a "moneymaking malignancy on the community that ran amok."
Two doctors at the clinic on the Wayne-Mingo county line were earlier sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
Cameron J. Justice, 30, of Crum entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
Justice admitted he and others employed by the JMC knowingly used the DEA registration number issued to another person to distribute controlled substances such as hydrocodone and alprazolam.
He further admitted that from 2005 to March 2009, he knowingly allowed the clinic to defraud the Medicare program by falsely billing for services personally performed by physicians, which were not, in fact, performed by physicians.
Prosecutors say that patients of the JMC did not normally meet with physicians, but were sometimes given face-to-face examinations and evaluations by nurse practitioners employed by the clinic. As a result, Justice caused the Medicare program to pay approximately $289,000 as a result of fraudulent billing.
Justice, is scheduled to be sentenced in June. He faces up to 14 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
|
Popular Searches Powered by Local.com |
