The former director of the Bledsoe County Emergency Services Department was given probation in Federal Court on Monday on charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and providing false information on a controlled substance record.
Larry Allan Billingsley appeared before Judge Sandy Mattice.
Billingsley earlier pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining morphine and demerol that he took for pain from a bad back. His attorney, Keith Davis, said he had five back surgeries.
He was ordered to repay Bledsoe County Emergency Services $2,568.04 for the drugs he took from the unit through forging the name of a physician.
Attorney Davis noted that Billingsley was the department's first employee and headed the unit for 15 years.
Prosecutors said there were 17 forged prescriptions involved. The administrator of the Erlanger Bledsoe Hospital began to have concerns about the prescriptions.
At one time, the EMS director was injecting himself about 12 times a day with the painkillers.
Billingsley told Judge Mattice he has undergone treatment and has not used a pain pill for 14 months. He said a spinal stimulation procedure helped ease the pain in his back and now he takes only ibuprofen.
His sentencing range was zero to six months.