A 62-year-old Fayetteville, Tn., doctor pleaded guilty in Federal Court in Chattanooga on Wednesday to illegally dispensing Oxycodone, defrauding TennCare and attempted tax evasion.
Dr. Samuel Ashby will face sentencing March 21, 2011 at 9 a.m., in United States District Court in Chattanooga.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine
for illegal distribution of a controlled substance; a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for healthcare fraud; and a maximum of five years in prison and up to a $100,000 fine for tax evasion.
The prosecution was the result of a joint investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of Dr. Ashby’s medical practice in Fayetteville For the last several years. Dr. Ashby operated a cash-only practice with no staff.
The investigation was launched in response to numerous complaints received by the TBI that Dr. Ashby was running what amounted to a “pill mill.” The investigation confirmed that individuals could obtain powerful pain medication, such as oxycodone (a synthetic heroin), from Dr. Ashby with no medical justification. Agents subsequently obtained and executed a search warrant at Dr. Ashby’s office, where they found the medical records of his “patients” to be incomplete and in utter chaos, it was stated.
An expert in pain management reviewed some of the patient files and found woefully inadequate medical histories and medical examinations to support Dr. Ashby’s prescriptions, authorities said. Dr. Ashby routinely prescribed powerful controlled substances far outside the bounds of professional practice and without medical justification. One such prescription is that charged in Count 1 of the information for Oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, written to a patient with the initials T.G. in September, 2007. As a result of writing prescriptions which were medically unjustified, Dr. Ashby caused patients on TennCare to have them filled at pharmacies. As a result, the TennCare system was defrauded, officials said.
By dealing in cash and cash equivalents exclusively, Dr. Ashby willfully attempted to evade and defeat the payments of income taxes due to the United States for calendar years 2000, 2002 and 2003 in the amounts of $2,753, $36,750 and $37,357, respectively, it was stated. His cash-only practice intentionally attempted to conceal from the IRS the nature, sources, and extent of his income and assets, it was charged.
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said, “This case demonstrates our office’s commitment to addressing the ever-growing problem of prescription drug abuse. Increasingly we are finding unscrupulous healthcare professionals involved in illegally distributing drugs. When a doctor steps outside the bounds of professional practice and prescribes narcotics without medical justification, he or she becomes simply a drug dealer. The United States Attorney’s Office will take swift and decisive action against those who illegally put addictive drugs on the streets. In this case, the drug dealer’s conduct was even more egregious, since taxpayers were defrauded to pay for the drugs he distributed.”
Assistant United States Attorney John MacCoon represented the United States.