Prosecutors say "substantial sentence is warranted" for the leader of the "Cream Scheme" despite a 13-page letter he wrote to Judge Sandy Mattice.
Prosecutors Perry Piper and Franklin Clark said, "The letter submitted by Wilkerson has, respectfully, done nothing to improve his situation."
Wilkerson is set to be sentenced on July 28 in the major health care fraud case. He will be the final defendant to be sentenced.
In their own 16-page reply, the prosecutors said, "In essence, Wilkerson argues that the entire investigation, prosecution, and verdict are a mistake. If the Court knew the full story, Wilkerson posits, the Court would have found him and his co-defendants not guilty."
Noting his statement about the pain cream being an alternative to opioids, they said, "Once again, Wilkerson steers the case toward pain management and the dangers of the 'opioid crisis.' As the Court heard, pain cream was only one part of the defendant’s scheme. He offered, at unconscionable prices, a multitude of creams having nothing to do with pain: creams to treat skin problems, migraines, warts, stretch marks, and erectile dysfunction. Add to that the 'wellness pills,' which also cost about $6,000 per bottle - and were shown at trial to be a compilation of nominally priced ingredients available at Walmart."
Prosecutors said, "Despite Wilkerson’s arguments to the contrary, the proof showed that Wilkerson was paying Dr. Candace Craven to sign prescriptions for the creams without actually seeing the patients. They said on May 17, 2014, Kirtis Green, while in Florida, texted Wilkerson, “This is where I want to be. Permanently.” Wilkerson replied, “Bango. Then I’m sure I will too. We will just set up an online fax account and feed scripts to Michele constantly.” Green said, “Perfect. She said she will sign 500 a time once karma opens.” Wilkerson then added, “Ha ha. Perfect.”
Noting that Wilkerson said the cream business only lasted nine months, prosecutors said, "In that short time, Wilkerson devised and executed a scheme that bilked private insurance companies, Tricare, and finally Hamilton County Schools, out of $35 million."
Prosecutors said, "Wilkerson suggests that paying his prescribers to authorize the creams was the “only ‘right’ way to compensate providers that I was aware of.” The “only right way” to use prescribers would have been for Wilkerson not to pay them at all: it is not how the payments were made - it was that they were made by Wilkerson that reveals the fraud. The 'right way' would have been for the patients to see a medical professional who did not have a stake in the outcome."
They also said, "Wilkerson claims that Amanda Morgan Booker approached him regarding the marketing of the creams. Ms. Morgan Booker testified to the opposite: she stated that Wilkerson approached her and claimed 'that a lot of Hamilton County insurance was covering for teachers and asked me to have a conversation with my husband if he would be interested in bringing people on to get the creams, pharmaceutical, whatever we called it.' Ms. Morgan Booker replied to Wilkerson that she 'would have a conversation with my husband' about recruiting teachers to order the creams. Wilkerson confirmed that Ms. Morgan Booker would be 'compensated' for her husband’s efforts in bringing on Hamilton County Schools employees. Wilkerson created an LLC for Morgan Booker, ARM LLC, through which she received the payments for the Hamilton County Schools creams that were ordered through her husband (Keitha Booker)."