An elderly Dardanelle pharmacist was given a year's probation and a $10,000 fine Friday for defrauding the Medicare Part D program by falsely claiming his pharmacy sold repackaged prescription drugs.
Lee Roy Parker, a pharmacist for 45 years who is no longer in practice, also was ordered to pay $61,708 in restitution to the Medicare Trust Fund.
U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ordered Parker to pay the fine into the court's registry "immediately" and to pay the full amount of restitution within the next 90 days, after a federal prosecutor said Parker appears to have "significant assets available to him."
Parker pleaded guilty April 3 to a charge of health care fraud, admitting that from 2007 to 2009, while he owned and operated Rose Drug of Dardanelle, he falsely requested and obtained reimbursement from the federal health care program for buying repackaged prescription drugs.
The drugs are bought in bulk from their manufacturers and then repackaged and resealed into smaller, ready-to-dispense quantities by third-party companies. Medicare Part D reimburses pharmacies at higher amounts for repackaged prescription drugs than for their wholesale, nonrepackaged equivalents, according to court documents.
Although Parker faced six to 12 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, defense attorney Debbye Nye urged Holmes to consider a probationary sentence instead, which was allowable under the guidelines.
Nye asked the judge also to consider Parker's health and his decision not to renew his license and never to practice as a pharmacist again.
Parker told the judge that "none of this would have ever happened" if he hadn't suffered two strokes that left him diagnosed with memory loss and dementia. He blamed the strokes on lawsuits.
Holmes cited Parker's "advanced age and very poor health" in saying that a prison term "would be unduly harsh." Parker's exact age wasn't mentioned in court.
He ordered Parker to serve one month of home detention to kick off his year on probation.
Metro on 07/12/2014