By WENDY HOLDREN
The Register-Herald
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 69-count indictment has been unsealed, charging 12 individuals with operating a pill mill.
The indictment charges the owners, managers and physicians associated with HOPE Clinic, which operated as a purported pain management clinic in Beckley, Beaver and Charleston, as well as Wytheville, Va., and a related company with conspiring to distribute oxycodone and other Schedule II controlled substances, not for legitimate medical purposes and outside the usual course of professional practice, from November 2010 to June 2015.
The following individuals are charged in the indictment: James H. Blume Jr.; D.O, Mark T. Radcliffe; Joshua Radcliffe; Michael T. Moran, M.D.; Sanjay Mehta, D.O.; Brian Gullett, D.O.; Vernon Stanley, M.D.; Mark Clarkson, D.O.; William Easley, D.O.; Paul W. Burke, M.D.; Roswell Tempest Lowry, M.D.; and Teresa Emerson, LNP.
“As of today, there are 69 counts. Ten doctors in total. Clinics from Beckley to Beaver, and Charleston to Wytheville. Lots and lots of pills, and even more misery,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart. “Home-grown drug dealers hidden behind the veil of a doctor’s lab coat, a medical degree and a prescription pad are every bit as bad as the heroin dealers from Detroit who bring their poisons to West Virginia. Today’s 69-count indictment is the continuation of our efforts to hold accountable those who prey on the good citizens of West Virginia.”
In addition to the conspiracy charge, the indictment charges defendants Blume and Mark Radcliffe with maintaining drug-involved premises in Beckley, Beaver and Charleston, and includes 62 counts charging several physicians with distribution of controlled substances not for legitimate medical purposes and outside the usual course of professional practice.
Read the entire article: http://www.register-herald.com/health/u-s-attorney-unseals-indictment-charging-with-operating-pill-mill/article_50dd2e8c-1694-11e8-9f4d-73a452c566b1.html
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